He's eating the couch again but he's in the back crack, so I can't get a good pic of him lmao 🤦🏻‍♀️

Sploot’s definitely loving the Houston heat! 😂

I plan on getting a ackie monitor soon I have done research but would still
Love tips also I would like to know what size enclosure I could use for a juvenile through adult or if it can stay in the same size enclosure

So for context, I have a bit of a collection of animals already. I've got a bunch of snakes and a handful of invertebrates, and while I'm happy with all my animals, there's one thing I've always wanted to round it all off, a huge lizard.

I've had a few lizards in the past. As a kid, I had a leopard gecko and a crestie. In more recent times, I had an ackie who I absolutely adored, but he was just a bit too small to scratch the itch I have.

I also watched a friends juvenile argus monitor for a bit over a year. She was fun at times, but was really cautious around people's hands. I never touched her if she hissed at me, or forced handling. I don't know why, maybe she just didn't like hands or something. While it was fun feeding her and watching her dig around and climb, I wouldn't be very satisfied if she was my own pet from the lack of interactivity. Also, a bit too high energy for me. Whenever I fed her, she would act like she's never eaten in her life, and tried to eat my tongs on several occasions.

I wanted to come here and ask everyone: what would you say fits me best? Size wise, I'm looking at 4-5 feet, ideally closer to 4 than 5, but I'm flexible within that range. I want something really interactive that actually wants to engage with me, not just something that tolerates being handled.

With some research and input from friends, my top candidates right now are female Argentine black and white tegus, celebensis water monitors, and female black throat monitors. Tegus would be my first choice, but I'm not big on brumation, and guberty sounds like a nightmare, but their temperment is pretty hard to beat from what I hear

What do you all think? For reference, the largest space I can provide is 8x4x4. I'd love something like an Asian water monitor if I had the space and money for the enclosure it would need lol.

So recently, inexplicably today, my skittish female mangrove started to let me touch her. She's was tongue flicking and checking out my hand before I tried touching her. She showed no fear and wasn't wary like usual, so I tried a gentle touch under her tail, and she permitted it. She didn't seem stressed, so I tried petting the base of her tail, at which point she raised her tail into my petting. She wasn't tongue flicking during this, and after I did this she closed her eyes, so I want to get some ideas about whether this stressed her out or not.

This is phase one of the enclosure set up. He now also has a UVB strip light and a secondary heat lamp just above the top tier of the Cat Tree. Hottest point is about 115, ambient 85 and cold 70. Its a green house so holding humidity at about 50% is easy. I spray down the plants about once a week.

The box with the blanket has been removed.

I always find him digging or hanging in the cat tree, thinking about giving him another one.

Also considering putting earthworms in the dirt for him to discover ❤️

While I’m here - any advice on getting him to eat anything else lol? All he’ll go for is crickets.

Hey everyone just went into my local reptile shop for livefood and they got some bosc/savannah monitor’s in and they had a bowl of salad in there for them and on the ‘information’ card it said they eat both veg and insects.
I’ve never heard of savannah monitors needing veg i asked the worker and she was clueless and pretty much said i just work here im in the uk this isnt usual that reptile shops spread misinformation this bad.

You're so cute, why can't I pet you😭 just one time!

(Also the cage looks empty because I was cleaning out her cage because of flies)

can i put it straight into the full size enclosure with dividers and if not what size should it go in?

Blue was letting me know he was hungry 🤣

(The real reason was a small food stain he thought tasted good)

Final Edit: she has come out and is eating! I adjusted her heating setup by suggestion today as well, and hope im slowly easing past the "hiding forever" phase! Thank yall because i was stressing but im happy to hear this isnt just a one off occurance, and is a baby monitor thing. Continuing to leave her be, exist in her room, and putting in as many bugs as she'll eat for now!

Hi! So, i got a baby ackie moitor shipped to me and she arrived last Friday (so have hàd her 8 days now). She has been hiding ever since, and with a camera mounted to watch for activity, shes not come out to bask, get water, or eat food since her first time exploring on day 1.

My setup specifics (because i know theyll be asked for)

-Lighting and heat: Arcadia 24W HO-T5 12% UVB light and fixture, a 160W ZooMed Powersun uva/uvb/heat bulb, basking spot is 130, ambient is around 90 while the cool end is room temps during the day at 75.

-Enclosure size: 4x2x2

-Substrate: 50/50 sand and soil mix, giving a range of 6" to 12" of substrate around the enclosure (trying to encourage burrowing in two bigger deep spots)

-Decor: branches, a log, big rock slabs layered with substrate and slate rocks on the top that reach the desired basking temps. Hides scattered around and some aloe and other succulents planted around (put into biodegradable small pots to try and give them a fighting chance against a burrowing critter)

-Food: offering mealworms, small dubia roaches, and small crickets. Ive seen her eat two i prekilled and placed near her on day one and no sign of her eating since. I put them in a bowl and the crickets can obviously escape but none of the other bugs are ever touched

So heres my question. Because she got upgraded from a smaller enclosure from the breeder (looked like sharing maybe a 20 long with her siblings?), to a 4 foot enclosure as ive been reccomended, do you think it couldve been stressful and made her more likely to hide? Im all for leaving her be and comming out on her own, but im super nervous about doing all this and finally getting the baby for it to just, possibly have health isues or die from just never comming out.

Should i find her and put her in a smaller enclosure for a while? Just out of concern for her possibly not eating. I have an empty 10 and 20 gallon i could setup for now if they could be any good. Shes about a month old, attaching a photo of her and then her enclosure if anyone might have advice!

An edit real quick: im aware theyre not going to be comfortable right away, but my concern is not seeing any dent in the food ive offered all week. I dont know how long they can go, and when i should be concerned. Unless given other advice im continuing to leave her alone, only replacing food and water and just existing in the room in the afternoons as i usually would. If the lack of eating is something i should start to worry about, thats why i mentioned having other tanks just incase. Obviously if theres any critisism im here for it as i want whats best for my animals, but this is starting to go outside the realm of all the research id done prior, and why im reaching out for others with actual hands on experience with Ackies or similar species! I know asking for animal advice on the internet can be hit or miss but know im just posting out of concern for my animal, and im not /trying/ to do wrong by her

So for a while now I’ve tried feeding my ackie, orion insects like crickets or meal worms, he runs from crickets and won’t eat worms from his bowl, so I’ve been feeding eggs (raw or scrambled) and chicken raw I need help getting this lizard properly fed can someone help

Just sharing a pic without any real issues or questions this time. Really enjoying spending time with this little guy as he grows up. He has eagerly accepted tong feeding for about 10 months and is usually open to being pet. I have picked him up a couple times when the moment demanded it, no issues there, but otherwise I am waiting for him to approach me and climb up onto my arm. Not a whole lot of luck on that front yet though.

But overall he seems very friendly so far. Really impressed with how curious and bold he is. Feel free to share any pics of your scaly friends, ackie, monitor, or not.

It’s my birthday and Liora summoned me for pets! (lol we did get a few snuggles in earlier)

I haven't posted here in a while since my lil Sonny got diagnosed with cryptosporidium. It's been a tough few months for us with lots of vet visits and troubleshooting.

I've had to tear down his bioactive setup and switch to paper towels for easy cleanup and switch most of his decor out with plastic so I can disinfect more thoroughly.

On the bright side the last month has shown a lot of improvement with his symptoms. He was slowly losing weight but now is starting to gain it back.

I'm hoping to get some opinions on good ways to give him more climbable space while still being easy to clean. One thought I had was PVC pipes and coating them with drylok for grip. What do you think?

It's hard to strike a balance of giving him enough enrichment and cover and not making it an absolute nightmare to take apart multiple times a week for cleaning. (I put the cardboard tube in there today but don't plan on keeping it in there long)

Recently got a ackie monitor, about 2 weeks ago. Hes 6 months old, just wanting to know what to expect from him.
His temps are currently 35c and 45% humid (warm side ambient)
27c and 65% humid (cool side ambient) hes currently in a 4x2x2 phailozoo enclosure. About 6-8inches of substrate currently.

Also, have 2 basking spots on the warm side, one being 45c, and one being 55-60c.

On the first week he was very active, would hunt infront of me, bask, was out most of the day. This week i rarely see him at all, maybe max 15 mins a day he'll peak out at me then hide again. Am i doing anything wrong? Any tips on what to fix/improve?. I will be upgrading enclosures in a few months as well. Feedback is greatly appreicated, thanks!

I broke the camera lense on my phone and brought it to the beach and dropped it in the sand and now when I take a video there’s rattling because sand got in the broken cameras lense.

Anyways Charlie’s doing good!! I feed her today, she’s really getting comfortable in my hand.

I gave her a mealworm and instead of running away with it and rubbing it in a rock she rubbed it on my hand and that was… gross. But YAYYY progress

I have owned this white-throated, Apollo, for about a month now, and I'm struggling to help him not see me as an enemy.

He had previous owners and then was in a tiny tank for about 2 months at a pet store before I came along. I am not sure how much handling he got, if any.

I move very slowly around him. Open his enclosure doors and just chill without approaching, and we have a blast with him running around outside his enclosure when tong feeding or throwing him Dubias to chase. He will climb on me and to me during feedings. But the SECOND I go to touch him, he puffs up and hisses. I approach from the side, from the front, and avoid from high up or behind. I can go slow enough sometimes that he lets me pat him on the head, but he doesn't look happy about it.

I'm worried that during this growth phase, he is going to get big enough to do some real damage before we bond.

Any advice?