sorry been busy. i hate too say this but i wasnt ready for my water to be a female. her cage is 8' long 4' wide 23" tall. i dont use a substrate. i do this for a super clean enviroment. i have had no problems with this. i went out monday to buy 160 pounds of top soil and sand. i put that in a rubber maid container. i opened up her enclosure and gave her full use of the room. she laid a total of 7 eggs. she is doing very good. i plan on making that room into her new enclosure but that will take some time. now think i should get a male and start breeding my own water monitors? well thats it for the nite and thank u everyone for all the help u gave me. this is a very good forum.