Savannah Monitor behavior differences

[Oxylepy]

My own sav, about 3 months old, is in a very large tub, with some sticks, a plastic paint roller pan (for water), a large flat rock for basking (ceramic heat bulb, spot light, and a UVB bulb all pointed on it) with a temp of about 150 on the rock. The top has some screen and the sides have some screen to allow air flow, however they are all restricted with aluminum foil with only about a 2 inch area for air to go through (initial problems with humidity were solved by doing this). The substrate is dirt and sand (although I am considering adding more sand as my sav hasn't dug any holes yet). The tub has a connected fogger that runs for about 30 minutes every hour and a half during the day. It spends all its time under the rock or the paint pan, and doesn't come out except for 5 to 10 minutes a day to chomp on crickets and swim/drink from the paint pan. The humidity in the enclosure hits 90% when the fogger runs and drops to 60-70 before the fogger kicks back in. I dump crickets in there which kind of cohabitate with the lizard until they die or he eats them. There is a small dish I put dusted meal and super worms in as well.

My roommate's sav is in a glass aquarium with sandy soil, a screen lid, a few hides, a large shallow plastic water dish (the kind sold for food for reptiles) , a UVB tube lamp, a ceramic heater, and a spot light. There is a basking rock in there for it and a stick, but someone keeps centering the lights so they aren't over the rock and are over the stick. His sav dug a burrow that it spends its time in, however it also likes to roam around a lot, basking and hunting and checking things out. His enclosure is far drier than I suggested and so I keep dumping a gallon of water in there for it every few days so the soil stays moist and it has enough humidity to breathe in its burrow (the surface is still too dry though, however its burrow has a decent humidity so it doesn't dehydrate and die).

Anyway, why does his lizard spend time roaming and basking, while mine spends its time under either its rock or water tray? If I go in to check on my lizard it sits for a few seconds to see if I am going to tong feed it, hisses and runs around til it finds somewhere to hide, while his lizard hisses and puffs up and prepares to fight. Mind that these things don't happen often, because in general the lizards are given space to be tiny little dinosaurs. Oh, and I got my lizard a month later and it has always been bigger than his, even though they both get food put in there fairly often, mine has remained ~20% larger than his.

What's going on, is it differences in temperment, or husbandry, or both?

[jclaiborne]

How long have you had the lizard? What is the size of the animal, and what is the size of the enclosure. Pictures would be helpful. How deep is the substrate layer, do you only have 1 basking light, etc? With lizards husbandry can greatly affect their temperament...

[jclaiborne]

My own sav, about 3 months old, is in a very large tub, with some sticks, a plastic paint roller pan (for water), a large flat rock for basking (ceramic heat bulb, spot light, and a UVB bulb all pointed on it) with a temp of about 150 on the rock. The top has some screen and the sides have some screen to allow air flow, however they are all restricted with aluminum foil with only about a 2 inch area for air to go through (initial problems with humidity were solved by doing this). The substrate is dirt and sand (although I am considering adding more sand as my sav hasn't dug any holes yet). The tub has a connected fogger that runs for about 30 minutes every hour and a half during the day. It spends all its time under the rock or the paint pan, and doesn't come out except for 5 to 10 minutes a day to chomp on crickets and swim/drink from the paint pan. The humidity in the enclosure hits 90% when the fogger runs and drops to 60-70 before the fogger kicks back in. I dump crickets in there which kind of cohabitate with the lizard until they die or he eats them. There is a small dish I put dusted meal and super worms in as well.

My roommate's sav is in a glass aquarium with sandy soil, a screen lid, a few hides, a large shallow plastic water dish (the kind sold for food for reptiles) , a UVB tube lamp, a ceramic heater, and a spot light. There is a basking rock in there for it and a stick, but someone keeps centering the lights so they aren't over the rock and are over the stick. His sav dug a burrow that it spends its time in, however it also likes to roam around a lot, basking and hunting and checking things out. His enclosure is far drier than I suggested and so I keep dumping a gallon of water in there for it every few days so the soil stays moist and it has enough humidity to breathe in its burrow (the surface is still too dry though, however its burrow has a decent humidity so it doesn't dehydrate and die).

Anyway, why does his lizard spend time roaming and basking, while mine spends its time under either its rock or water tray? If I go in to check on my lizard it sits for a few seconds to see if I am going to tong feed it, hisses and runs around til it finds somewhere to hide, while his lizard hisses and puffs up and prepares to fight. Mind that these things don't happen often, because in general the lizards are given space to be tiny little dinosaurs. Oh, and I got my lizard a month later and it has always been bigger than his, even though they both get food put in there fairly often, mine has remained ~20% larger than his.

What's going on, is it differences in temperment, or husbandry, or both?

Were you able to get any more details?