what monitor?

[cris]

Sliding glass doors are bad because they are very easy for monitors to run out off.
IMO no large monitors should be kept in a cage that small unless you can build a much bigger one within 12 months. A cage that size would be excellent for any of the smaller species.

Monitors are not suited to handling at all, if your planning on handling it for "fun" you should reconsider what type of animal you get. They do not like being restrained or pushed around at all. They will generally become used to you and not be bothered by your presence(this can depend on the species and individual though).

This is is a must read if you want to get one, it is off an international site but most of the info is relevant. http://mampam.50megs.com/monitors/advice.html

[richardsc]

yeah id recommend tristis and smaller for that sized cage,panoptes by the way get up to 6 foot long and would eat a sandy no probs,lol,monitors are very active,need space for moving,also sandys and spencers are a digging monitor,and inch or so of soil isnt going to cut it with them,also spencers may only get to 120 cms or so in length,but they have a short tail for a monitor so snout to vent length is quite large and there very solid as well,if its your first foray into monitors,you would be better off getting a small group of ridgeys,gillens or tristis,and doing your homework before u buy any,if kept right there all bottomless pits when it comes to feeding,so smaller ones are easyer to cater for there,not trying to scare u off,but dont get a biggin for the sake of its size,especially as a first time keeper,i wont even mention bite and scratch wound differences between the sizes,lol

[richardsc]

oh and today when i was feeding my lacies,which live in a front sliding glass enclosure,waiting for there outdoor cage to be built, the larger pr lept out on to my leg,didnt have the camera on me so i put the girl back in and hoddled over to the camera to take a pic of the male who was still on my leg,lol

[JJS.]

Mate, monitors are active animals. Think about it.

[richardsc]

i wouldnt say monitors are active,id say really active,lol

[dunno103]

Hi

Kirby (and any other potential monitor keepers) I hope you read this.

IMO snout-vent length is more important than total length, but then you must look at the monitors natural behaviour. A spencers lives on those flat plains in northern Qld so they spend a lot of their time foraging for food ie moving a lot.

According to H Ehmann (Encyclo.. Reptiles 1992) spencers s-v is 55 cm, a sandy (normal) 65.5 cm, a perentie 75 cm, a mertens 47.5 cm and a lacie 76.5. The last 2 are probably a little less terestrial, but the mertens is a large water monitor and the lacey is an avid climber, the rest are predominantly terestrial.

The smaller subspecies of gouldii (flavirufus) probably attains a s-v of 30cm but IMO need more room than 2.1 x 0.9 m.

But I do agree that for a tristis (s-v 28 cm), which is commonly found in trees, this would be adequate.

Cheers

Steve

[Spinipes]

if you built a 7 ft by 3ft by 3ft it should be ok for a sandy (favi). Gouldi Gouldi grow to 1.6m much bigger than favi's. there are some massive gouldi gouldi on daydream island that would be bigger than 1.6 m