First Monitor Advice

[Erie_herps]

See answers above in BLUE.

I definitely would wait on a Kimberley Rock Monitor until you are very comfortable with ackies. Even then, I'd probably advise against it unless you are very experienced and willing to put in a lot more time and effort on top of the ackies.

Ackies can be awesome in their own right, but I'd rather something I can handle, interact with easily, and not have to interact with regularly. I have 9 reptiles and health issues. For me, the time and effort wasn't worth the reward. It probably wouldn't have been even if my monitor had calmed down.

I recently re-homed my two rhacodactylus lizards because they were a ton of work compared to my other reptiles. In fact, they took about 50% of my reptile time in terms of feeding, cleaning, etc. They are easy compared to monitors.

I should also point the cost of feeding, the frequency of feeding (again), the diversity in diet, the heat requirements (very hot basking spot and huge temp variance - cooler at night and a low cool spot comparatively), the need for clean and fresh wood/rocks to climb on and keep the nails in good shape, etc.

Again, it's your choice and I am not trying to project. However, it's a big commitment, and frankly, your current collection likely will not have prepared you for monitors. Not sure what would, but that's another story.

This gives me a lot to consider. I'm going to do a lot of research for a while and try to figure out if they would be a good choice or not.