So I got a Mangrove Monitor...

[Oxylepy]

I ordered it from backwater reptiles. I became immediately worried about it considering the reviews that I saw later.

However, the worry was for nothing. They delayed shipment due to weather, then mailed it to me as overnight shipping. When the lozard came the temperature was worryingly low, but the hot pack and contents of the box were still warm and there was my monitor in a mesh bag. At first I was worried that it would be dead or the wrong species (because of the reviews). But I was wrong, it's definitely a mangrove monitor, it was flickering its tongue and it was great.

So, I gave it a warm bath to get it in better condition, rebagged it, and then introduced it to its new enclosure. It's definitely not well fed (which I was certain would be the case after I saw and read reviews), but isn't showing any negative signs. It ran around, swam a lot, explored, and finally ate a rodent.

By the way, they don't swallow prey like a Savannah, they rip it to pieces. Just as a heads up to anyone getting a monitor, keep in mind that different species eat differently. I don't plan on offering it any more live baby rats, because that was a horrifying thing to see.

I got home from work tonight and noticed that I couldn't see it anywhere in its enclosure. So I opened the enclosure up and looked around the water area and the land area. Then I put on my phone light to look around closer...

Mangrove Monitors burrow. There was a beatifully circular burrow in the middle and of course it's in there. That's awesome.

So, anyway. Great order from Backwater Reptiles. I'm really happy despite some bad reviews freaking me out. Mangrove Monitors eat in a horrifying way and they burrow