New White Throat!!! Lots of questions!!!

[Dom]

Hello everyone!

I am the new proud owner of a male white throated monitor. He measures about 3 feet and a half and is a bit agressive but will tame down very quickly...

HE will be house in a room dedicated for him. Dimensions are 8 feet by 7 feet .. and I think its about 7 and a half high... Now, I have work with White throats before and LOVE EM TO DEATh but don't know what the best husbundry for them is .. I personally don't trust much of the info on the web (as its almost all wrong on varanids) I know there are many knoledgable varanid keepers out there and would love your oppinions..

First of all .. Is this enough room for him...

What is the best substrate / set up / branches / water .. basicaly what would be his ideal set up for him ..

What would be the best heating for such a large cage?

I am dead in love with this animal, i have alwasy wanted a white throat since the first time I saw one, and trully want to make him thrive in captivity ..

Please any help info or sugestion you could give me would help so much .. I know the essentials for him, but I also value many of the varanids keepers oppinion out there..

Thanks everyone!

[NiagaraReptiles]

Hey Dom,

Congrat's on your new addition!

I have never worked with any African species, so I wouldn't be the person to ask for experience advice from. However, all monitors have the same needs.....it's presentation that varies.

First off, Albig's are burrowers BIGTIME. I'm sure if you could provide him with 3 feet of substrate, he will burrow to the bottom. Try and give him as much substrate as you can. Of course dirt is best as well. Try to find a sandy loam, and I think he would be happy with that (just a speculation). Be sure to keep the substrate damp enough for burrowing, and over-ventalation will make this more difficult to maintain.

For heat, if the room is set up properly, you should only need a bank of three or four 75-100 watt flood lamps. Don't think of it as "How do I heat the cage?", it's the monitor that will need access to the heat when he needs it. If the basking spot(s) is appropriate, the enclosure should need no extra heating. Again, ventalation is a big issure here too.

I think that touches briefly on everything you mentioned. Feel free to shoot anything else out that you are looking for opinions on :)

Oh, and if you really do want him to "thrive in captivity", get him a mate......it's what monitors were born to do ;)

JonK

Just out of curiousity, what are the 'essentials' that you mention you know of?

[Linds]

I don't have alot of experience keeping thsese animals, but I can give youa few tidbits. Those huge mercury vapour bulbs are suited to zoo-type enclosures, so I'm sure those would be great choice to use for your monitor. I've also noticed their need to dig, so I agree with Jon in that you should have as deep substrate as possible. However, you can't jsut dump a bunch of dirt into a room and turn it into an enclosure. You will have to line it someway, it will be heavy and hopefully that won't pose too much a challenge for the structure, but the dampness will rot out your floor in no time. Hope this helped a bit :)

[Dom]

Thans guys ..

My floor is actually cement so tat is not an issue but the walls are ... I will probably strengthen the bottom walls and maybey use pool liner on them to avoid rotting .. I think that should work ...

As for the substrate .. wow .. I am just thinking about how much dirt i will need .. Its crazy! Thanks for all the advise ..

As for the essentials, i mean, space requirements, very deep substrate ,, Heating .. I have a good Idea of what they need but simply like to get others input on it .. 2 heads is always better than one!


Thanks for all the help Linds and Jon .. i will steal My dads Digital camera once tis all set up and take pics of it! I am moving in there as we speak .. so He should be in there in the next days to come ..

Ciao

[NiagaraReptiles]

Regarding Mercury Vapour Bulbs -

The purpose of a light bulb to a monitor is to provide a source of heat. This can be attained by using any light bulb really, so why spend the extra money on the bulb and heating if it is of no benefit to the monitor? Of coarse, I'm not saying it is of any harm either. I have used a variety of light bulbs over my years of working with Varanids, and I have come to prefer simple Home Hardware flood lamps and/or halogen flood lamps. These bulbs provide a significant amount of heat for a low wattage bulb, and are cheap to replace and power.

Sadly, I'm never seen a zoological institution that knew how to properly provide for thier monitors (somtimes all other reptiles as well), so I don't see it as a good angle to say/think "If it's good enough for a zoo, it's good enough for me." type thing. I'm not meaning to be nasty at all to you Linds, just trying to make a point.

As an example, there is a zoological institution that I've visited that has a Komodo Dragon enclosure that cost almost $300,000 to build. The Dragons' that live there are grossly obese, and lackin in excersice as the enclose was built based on asthetics, not the needs of it's inhabitants. It makes me sick to my stomach and very sad to see these amazing creatures suffering so.


Dom, about your essentials......it's not so much a matter of space in an enclosure as it is <b><i>usable</i></b> space. You can have an entire room set up for a monitor, but if the things in it aren't usable to it, you had may as well stuff it in an aquarium.

As for your room, I would suggest you build a smaller 'room' within the room. Build a wall to wall enclosure if you like with 2x4's and plywood, with the floor raised about a foot off of the cement floor, and a 2-3 foot dam across the front of the cage. You will have a lot easier time controlling temps and humidity this way, and won't cause any damage to your house. This will still give your monitor a great enclosure and will be easier for you to work with as well.

Just my thoughts,

[lance]

hey dom send us the pics bud

[Dom]

sorry guys ... Im in a move and hace no internet yet...

Lance: I will eventually but I have no acces to a cmera as of yet - Sorry:(

Jon K: I don't quite understand what u mean by you explanation of a room in a room? I am very interested in the idea but would love more info ... Thanks man..

Dom

[Linds]

Originally posted by NiagaraReptiles
Sadly, I'm never seen a zoological institution that knew how to properly provide for thier monitors (somtimes all other reptiles as well), so I don't see it as a good angle to say/think "If it's good enough for a zoo, it's good enough for me." type thing. I'm not meaning to be nasty at all to you Linds, just trying to make a point.

I think you may have misinterpreted what I was saying. Those bulbs were designed for zoo-type enclosures, I never said they were used in or endorsed by zoos. Besides which I haven't had a chance to go to the zoo in ages, so I haven't even a clue what they use. What I mean by a zoo-type enclosure is a BIG display area that the animal inhabits.

[NiagaraReptiles]

Sorry Linds, I think I did slightly miss your intent on that one :)

Dom, about "room within a room" thing - Once cages get to be a certain size, they stop being cages and become rooms ;)
What I was meaning is to build a free standing structure rather than converting a room, I'm sure you'll be glad you did further down the road.
A properly designed enclosure will give you much better results, and be easier to maintain.

[Dom]

I agree Jon! Its a work in progress right now .. Unfortunetly it won't be ready for a little while, so my white throat will havew to settle for much smaller for now.

I can't wait to give him his own room lol

Thanks for all the help
Dom