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Yeah...good point Tre...I was referring to outside enclosures when talking about "cold adapted" species.

Daavid, V.gilleni and V.brevicauda do well with very hot basking spot.

Simon Archibald
 
Gday goanna lovers ,i gather the hatchlings of stori,gillens,acks get the same heat as adults? What is the best food for hatchlins i gather its probably insects but what type do you guys use.Appreciate any response as i have never kept monitors and plan on getting some hatchies, :D :D
 
Oldfella,
Yes hatchies like the same temperatures as adults. I feed both crickets and roaches (though mainly crickets) to my small and hatchling monitors. They do well on this.

Also some species will eat canned dog food...I have been able to get some monitors onto it...but not all.

If you're interested, I currently have some Blackheaded Monitors hatching as I type. They are of known origin (Northern Territory originally) and are captive bred. $250 each. Assistance can be provided in regards to husbandry information.

Simon Archibald
 
:D Thankyou for your reply simon,i thought i would ask someone that knows to see if i was on the right track.I getting a little stors hatchling soon and want to make sure it survives.Never kept any of these little monitors and am looking forward to it. Cheers colin.
 
With merten's, it's not that they like it cooler but that they remain active at lower temps compared to other varanids. I have read heaps about them and there are records with active individuals with a body temperature of 18degrees. Matt Vincent would be someone to ask about this as it was mentioned at a VHS meeting a number of years ago. Check out http://mampam.50megs.com/monitors/mertensi.html for some info.
Sim
 
Here is another little guy that loves the heat. I know, it's not a monitor but it just go to show how hot these little guys love the heat a well.
 
Hi guys, I reckon I was the first herp to actually figure out you need to heat these guys to keep them healthy and have them breed.

In the eighties, many people kept monitors, but only housed them as warm as snakes. The result was they were not bred often, and most clutches from those days were from W/C gravid females that dropped after being caught.

During this same time I did a lot of field work up north, and did a lot of observations of monitors in the wild. I would observe species like Storrs and Ackies just sunbaking on rocks for over half an hour. When approached they would dart into a crevice. When I would kneel down on the same rocks that they were just sunning on to look at them in the crevice. I would find that the rocks were so hot your knees would literally stick to the rocks.

So I figured out from these observations that these animals relished the heat. I installed numerous 100watt bulbs in each of my moniotor enclosures, and bought the basking spots up to 50 to 60c. The result was every species I kept started to breed. I would often get comments from ARP keepers that I kept them to hot. My reply was they are breeding and doing well, so I must be doing something wright.

In the early nineties I was the only person producing mass varanid hatchlings. No one else was using my method, so they were not successful. After numerous complaints from keepers inferring I must be doing it illegally my animals were seized by NPWS. People like Steve Irwin and Matt Vincent advised the authorities that it was impossible to breed these in captivity. I was charged and faced court.
In the meantime, Vincent visited a friend of mine in the USA who was using my method. He saw hundreds of hatchlings and finally realised they could be bred. He withdrew from my case and only Irwin testified.

Isn't funny just 10 years later and all common monitors are now bred using my method, even by Irwin and Vincent. Vincent even wrote a book on monitors explaining the breeding concepts, but to this day has never appologised for slandering me as a criminal.
 
Awesome stuff bigguy, nothing like being a pioneer!!
Especially seeing something that you've discovered, and evolved, turning into accepted standard practise - for the betterment of herping.
I gather Vincent and Irwin have never paid any credit or acknowledgement!
Cheers
Ad
 
i can't wait till i move back to good ol' QLD, gonna be monitor central at my house.
 
Yeh AD blaxland lawson and wentworth struggled to the other side of the mountains( and a incredibly youthful) bigguy was standing in a clearing admiring his recently hatched bells phase laceys.Great you have worked it out bob so i can imitate your talent :)
 
That really is HOT.

I remember a while ago questioning you over the temps - but it is fact that they like it that hot.

Even my beardies like their temps of 45 and sometimes higher. . .
 
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