Monitor or Tegu???

[bsash]

I have a Ornate Nile monitor and a Savannah monitor.

Here is what I feed them every week:
Sunday- Two hard boiled eggs each
Monday- Nothing
Tuesday- Two rat pups each and two dozen roaches each
Wednesday- Nothing
Thursday- 4 ounces cooked beef liver each
Friday- Nothing
Saturday- Nothing

The Savannah monitor is three years old at 3ft. Long and the Nile monitor is almost two years old at 2 1/2ft. Long

I house them both kind of the same, except the Nile stays a little more moist. I keep them both of them in their own 125 gallon tank, the substrate is the excavator clay, sold at reptiledirect.com, or bigappleherp.com, I like that because I lay a thick layer of it down and they can make their own burrows. It holds much better than the half dirt, half sand mix I used to do. I have a typical reptile screen lid on the tank, in the middle I have a 250 watt white heat lamp, then off to the side I have the powersun 160 watt uvb uva heat combined bulb. On the other side of the tank I have nothing, and the temperature stays at about 75 degrees. In the middle with the 250 watt bulb I have a basking tree for the Nile, and a big stack of stones for the Savannah, as she is horrible at climbing. The basking spot stays at 100- 115 degrees. My warm side with the 160 watt powersun bulb stays at 80-90 degrees. I also keep their water bowls (Giant cat litter boxes) on the cool side. I see it this way, in the summer we like to cool off by going in a pool or taking a cold shower right? I do the same for them and leave the water on the cool side so it is at least refreshing.

As for taming them down, Savannah monitors are okay, it is not something that you are going to buy nice. You will need to handle them often, and then still handle them 2-3 times a week even when you got them the way you want them.

Sorry that turned out so long. I also used to rescue monitors, but it is an expensive business so I had to quit it. I know I am probably going to get crap for keeping them in fish tanks, but I believe they need moving air too, but you do need higher watt bulbs in order to keep them in fish tanks, because then otherwise the heat does just rise out of the tank.

Hope this helps!

[gbassett]

Do not follow any of the advice given by bash.You can not keep monitors in fish tanks,his feeding regimen is terrible stick with whole prey foods such as insects mice and chicks stay away from thing like chicken liver and part of meat.Follow Allergenic"s site on Savanna monitors its the best information out there.

From reading this post and all your posts on the other forums,my vote is you do A LOT more research.You have a lot to learn,and I feel you are not ready for a large lizard.


Greg

[bsash]

I have had monitors for years, these are my newest, but as far as them being healthy, they are great. My humidity stays good, my heat stays good, everything is fine. I did not say it is easy to keep them in fish tanks, it does take a little extra work to do, but I have done it very successfully. They do get whole prey items, but I also give hard boiled eggs or cooked liver with them. My monitors have lived past their first and second years now, that in its self, is more than most people can say, even with taking adequate care of them.

[allergenic]

I have had monitors for years, these are my newest, but as far as them being healthy, they are great. My humidity stays good, my heat stays good, everything is fine. I did not say it is easy to keep them in fish tanks, it does take a little extra work to do, but I have done it very successfully. They do get whole prey items, but I also give hard boiled eggs or cooked liver with them. My monitors have lived past their first and second years now, that in its self, is more than most people can say, even with taking adequate care of them.

Unfortunately, monitors can endure bad conditions for several years without dying, though their health may start to deteriorate. You may take your monitors well into their fifth year before losing them or seeing massive health problems. To say you've brought them past their second year is really not saying a whole lot.

To be honest, a lot of what you said in your post above was so off, I almost suspected a troll?

[bsash]

Well, I suppose not everyone has to agree with me, and that is fine, I will be building them their new enclosures when is starts to get warm, unfortunately, I live in New Jersey, and all I have seen is snow, so, hopefully by April/May, they will have their new homes. When I do this, I will have everything on the inside of the enclosure with just two vents towards the bottom of the enclosure. The fish tanks were never going to be permanent, I just use them to start off with the babies, and move on from there.

I do feed pro-dominantly real food such as frozen/thawed baby chicks, rat pups, dubia roaches, and super worms. But as well, I do give them hard boiled eggs, and cooked beef liver in the mix every week. Again, not everyone has to agree with the way that I do things, but is does not necessarily mean that I am doing everything wrong. Everyone has their own opinions on how to raise them. My opinion is, if you can keep the heat and humidity right in a fish tank why not? I do admit I need higher power bulbs than I should, and that I need to tend to the humidity more than I should, but if you can maintain it, by all means.

This is why when I build my enclosure, everything will be done right, it will make my life easier, as for the monitors, they will be a little happier, I am going to build them pretty tall so a can get a lot of the excavator clay in there so they can really dig.

[capitalB]

Unfortunately, monitors can endure bad conditions for several years without dying, though their health may start to deteriorate. You may take your monitors well into their fifth year before losing them or seeing massive health problems. To say you've brought them past their second year is really not saying a whole lot.

To be honest, a lot of what you said in your post above was so off, I almost suspected a troll?

just for info sakes. how do you suggest taking care of said monitors??

[allergenic]

just for info sakes. how do you suggest taking care of said monitors??

savannahmonitor.org

[bsash]

I plan on taking very good care of my "Said" monitors. As they are not my first monitors, and have had others that did not die of illness. The fish tanks were never supposed to be this permanent, but think I'm alright until my new enclosures get built. Thanks.

[suzuki4life]

a 2 year old 2 foot nile is caused by abuse...nothing more.....a nile will exceed 2 feet in its first year EASILY if kept properly

[suzuki4life]

ackies are the best...



timors are nice if you like to get pooped on or bit.