Frightened Black Throat

[wolfy-hound]

#1, You were incredibly irresponsible if you used a dog X-pen to contain a monitor lizard outside. A spooked monitor could be over/under a Xpen in less time than you'd take to open your mouth to yell "No Fluffy!" Then he's loose, taking off to somewhere, up a tree, into the neighbor's yard, into the road, woods, storm drain.... then you're on here, crying about your lost pet. Please do not put your monitor into ANY enclosure that is not secure, even if you're going to sit right there with him singing Kumbaya on the ukelele.

#2, Monitors can benefit from sunshine and fresh air, if the temps and humidity are okay and if being outside doesn't stress them out. My monitors used to have and will have again, a outdoor pen, because here in sunny Florida, I can do that. They like the outdoor pen, because they have lots of hiding spots(like Retes stacks style cramped hiding spots), and I put a cover on part of the top, so it's not completely open to the sky(most lizards are wary of open sky, probably due to birds of prey). I build my outdoor pen so it should hold a chimp, so that the monitors don't have the option of escaping, AND I make sure of the weather.

#3, It's your lizard. No one can tell you how to care for it or how it will react. If you want to say "he loves me and we cuddle and watch My Little Pony!", then that's cool and all. Most monitor keepers are going to disagree. It's not "haters", it's real people with real experience with real monitors who are going to be WAY more concerned for the monitor's health and well-being than they are about your little feelings.

I'd ten times rather talk with monitor keepers who will tell me "You're a doofus" when I'm doing something that could be bad for my pet, than with someone who will pat my head and allow me to toddle off with poor husbandry practices. That doesn't mean you have to follow what they say to do... but don't go whining that it's all haters on you when they try to tell you information that you don't want to hear.

I'd suggest if you do want to offer your monitor the outdoors on good weather days, build a very sturdy frame of 2x4's with heavy gauge wire(not chicken wire or hardware cloth mesh) for him to use. Cover at least half of it(maybe with a blanket at first until you find what HIS comfort zone is about how much sky is okay), and make certain there are hiding spots for him, AND that the hiding spots are not overheating in the sun, AND that he's got a good big water container. Expect him to hide a lot the first few times. Monitors don't like "new".