Redited
General info - name: varanus spenceri, Spencers monitor aka plains goanna.
Lives in clay plains in north western qld and east NT. One of if not the strongest burrowing varanids well adapted to digging through rock hard clay. Eats animals that it can kill or vertebrates it can find dead.
housing - A large fish tank (1200(4') or more) is ideal for raising youngsters.
Adults should be kept in a large area either inside or out. IMO 4x2m would be a suitable minimum for an adult, smaller would be ok but not desirable.
You need to provide plenty of hides and its best to give them something to tunnel in, clay soil is best IMO. They will dig alot and you need to make sure they cant dig out. Having the basking lamp over the soil or hide will allow they monitor to sleep in a warm place. Rocks are good but you need to be extremly careful how they are positioned so that the goanna cant be pinned or crushed. Bricks and besser blocks are great because they are flat so they cant wedge under them and they also can hold a fair amount of heat.
Climbing branches are worth adding but not really needed.
They should be provided a very hot basking site around 60C is good(yes that hot, think how hot the ground gets on a hot day...) Unless in a very cold area this basking heat should be enough alone. If kept outdoors in a warm area with full sun additional heating may not be needed but in many cases a basking lamp may be needed for outdoor enclosures.
feeding - various animals... live invertebrates(generally must be live) and various vertebrate snacks.
captive behaviour - Make great captives and generally dont bite(unless they mistake you for food). They can become used to handling but they still hate it and like their own space(like all goannas). A large specimen could cause serious damage so they must always be treated with caution. A 4kg+ goanna holding on and shaking its weight around would not be cool. Being tame doesnt always stop it from biting with a feeding reaction(just like with a snake). Gennerally they will try and crap on you(they have good aim too) if picked up when not used to handling. They will also hiss and whip you a bit and can also scratch either intentionally by digging their claws in or simply by struggling. Basically treat them with respect and you will get along well.
Mine often charge at the door at feeding time jumping and biting at anything that might be food.
breeding - They lay heaps of eggs up to 35(possibly more) and can reach breeding size in 1 year.
Links
http://mampam.50megs.com/monitors/advice.html
http://mampam.50megs.com/monitors/spenceri.html
http://www.monitor-lizards.net/species/varanus/spenceri.html