New Baby Savannah Monitors! Cage Help! Info And Suggestions Welcome!

Discussion in 'Monitors & Tegus' started by RobbieReptileMan, Apr 30, 2012.

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Good Beginner Setup For a First Timer?

  1. Yes! Just needs some minor changes!

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  2. No! Horrible! They're gonna die!

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  1. RobbieReptileMan

    RobbieReptileMan New Member

    Messages:
    32
    Hey everyone so I was just at the Hamburg, PA reptile show this weekend and I took one of my boas there and traded her to this guy for 3 baby savannah monitors! Now i was planning on only getting one and I literally did about 3 months of research before i got anything because thats just how I am lol ( in my opinion its a good thing ). But anyways lol i built a huge 6x2x2 cage ( planning for adult sized enclosure ) like I before I only planned on getting 1! But I came home with 3 because thats what he offered and they were really cute :) lol now I know that these guys will average between 4.5 - 5 feet and im prepared for that unlike most new monitors might be. Well moving on from that I was planning on putting them right into the big 6 foot cage but the guy I go to the reptile shows with ( friends dad ) ( sells and breeds ball pythons and owned 2 savs for 3 years each ) told me that ( thats WAYYYYYY to big for them right now ) so i put them in a 20 gallon tank I had lying around and they seem to be doing well in there actually! The temps are actually working out great on there basking spot ( huge stick ) it ranges from 125-136f in about 3 different spots so they pretty much each have there own basking spot. Coming down from the stick the temps go down to 84-95f and going more towards the cool side its at 74-77f so the temps seem pretty good as far as I can tell they seem ideal I also have a heating pad under the tank incase they burrow down so they can stay warm so the bottom of the tank is about 85f I also measured the temps in one of the burrows and it was 83.2f so thats pretty good im guessing! ( also these tempatures were measured with a temp gun and I measured them about 7 times each before posting this lol ) so now im gonna move onto substrate! I have about 6 inches of cypress mulch on the bottom but I was going to replace with just regular dirt from the store ( the kind without the pesticides and stuff ) or probably to be on the safe side the plantation soil from the reptile store. But anyways they seem to like it so far they burrow down and pop up once in a while to look at eachother like there playing a game lol and its always cool to see them " freak out " once I put crickets in there lol :) and since were talking about food ill say what im feeding them! Lol so right now im feeding them crickets about 2 times a day about 6 each and if I put more in they devour them anyways and then of course after running around they go up to there basking spots and pass out lol. So so far i covered heat, tank size and substrate so now on to the things in the enclosure I guess! Well in the tank i have a huge stick that they like to run around and climb on and stuff I also have a little water bowl in there with rocks so they dont drown and are able to get out and also a little burrow styrofoam thing thats against the side of the tank so I can see them while there in their! But now im gonna post some pics of them and the tank and everyone can give me some suggestions! And please dont critize lol just say it nicely :)




    Zeus.jpeg
    Zeus!


    sunny.jpeg
    Sunny!

    Basking.jpeg
    All of them basking!

    Cages.jpeg
    55 gallon houses my 7.5foot Red tail boa and the 20 gallon houses the savs! Also the wooden cage is their 6 foot one!

    cage.jpeg
    The cage they're in!

    sleeping.jpeg
    Zeus and Angus sleeping in the "styrofoam burrow"
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. Simpleyork

    Simpleyork New Member

    Messages:
    11
    I know this is old but first things first are you ready to feed 3 growing monitors? second they would do just fine in that larger cage till they decide it isn't big enough for the lot of them. The substrate depth should be around 24" though you can get away with less at their size for now. Actually take that back they should be around 14+ inches in length by now, assuming they were 6 inches when you got them in April as most are since they are Farmed/hatched that time of year. So please let them have 12+ inches of good substrate (topsoil that won't collapse when they burrow. Also they need humidity to survive, we're talking 60-100% depending on the area of the cage. If you have a screen top on the 20 gallon it will not due as the humidity is will not be held in.
    Here is a great website on Bosc's (Savannah monitors)
    http://www.savannahmonitor.co/
     
    Sharman Wisdom likes this.
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. Sharman Wisdom

    Sharman Wisdom HOTM Winner December

    Messages:
    134
    Zeus is the name of my monitor!
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. Sharman Wisdom

    Sharman Wisdom HOTM Winner December

    Messages:
    134
    yes I agree with simpleyork, monitors get big and need a special diet. More to taking care of them then a boa! Do you have a lot of room? I live in southeastern AZ, I can put a lot of my herps outside for 7 months out of the year.
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. Infernalis

    Infernalis New Member

    Messages:
    24
    I must disagree with the "special diet" statement.

    Monitors & Mice, The Myth Dispelled LINK.

    Proper caging is far more important than "special diet". Without proper environment no diet will be properly utilized.

    Temperatures that are not hot enough to support proper renal tubule function stress the kidneys allowing uric acid to elevate leading to gout, Lower temperatures than required also stress the immunity systems and slow digestion.

    Another concern raising a flag here is communal housing of a trio. This is also going to be very challenging, and I would not recommend it, feeding will certainly require separating the animals once they get some size to them, as food fights can get out of control quickly, leading to severe injury or death of any one of the monitors.

    The video has been slowed down to 1/4 normal speed to better illustrate just how violent this short exchange really was. Also I do not make a practice of slapping my lizards, it was a panic reaction in an attempt to break this up.

     

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