Getting Ackies Need Advise and Suggestions

[Aanayab1]

Sorry but this first post will be wordy, I promise to keep it as concise as possible.

I have decided to get a trio of Ackies... So let the learning truly begin.
Few things I need to put out there before beginning this.
I take constructive criticism very well. I also take every bit of help offered and research it so I can come to an informed/slightly educated decision of my own, I will of course, post the decision I come to and see if I have learned the point the helper was trying to get across(I may also include questions to better understand what the poster meant). Actual experience with the species at hand, be it good or bad will help me learn greatly.

Before starting this thread I read the monitor enclosure in this section... unfortunately not much useful information was retained do to confusion caused by all the bickering between the posts, but I think I got the important points. I got out of it; deep substrate, large cage a must, babies can be either housed in the full adult cage or a temporarily housed in smaller cages as long as the adult cage is truly built and not just a mythical object. Humidity and all three types of temperature are detrimental to the health of my animals.

Here are my plans as of now. I will be going with their permanent home.

I will be using the tub style monitor setup that ProExotics uses with some modification. You can see pictures of them on the web site in their photo gallery.

The dimensions will be 4'x2'x4' (if someone has had long term success with something else please chime in).

It will have 18- 20" of substrate (Still researching mixes and looking for what works well at that depth).

I will be insulating the bottom of the cage as I saw infernalis has done on his cage. Still debating doing the sides and top as well...

I will be incorporating a drainage and closed loop circulation system for 4-6" of water I plan to keep at the bottom of the cage... The Idea behind this stems from my experience keeping dart frogs with this type system.
If I keep water at the bottom in some LECA balls the water will wick its way up into the bottom of the soil without over soaking it. It will keep the humidity more stable(in theory) just as in a frog tank. The point behind it is keeping the water that settles from going stagnant via aeration and circulation, it keeps air even at the bottom of the soil so there is no way for the decomposing poo/urine/food scraps to go anaerobic. I will be able to drain the water to remove the nitrates, ammonia and nitrites and add fresh water. This way once a week I will be able to simulate rain fall, drain off the excess and keep the water at a constant depth. The purpose of the rain fall simulation is to rinse the soil without having to disturb the tunnels/burrows. I will explain more later(if asked) and provide drawings to help better explain.

I apologize for being so lengthy. Please chime in with any and all thoughts.

Antonio

[Gatorhunter1231]

Its late here so I will give you a better reply tomorrow with pics.
120-150f basking temps (surface temp), use halogen flood lights
I had success with 13-18in of sandy dirt with adults. babies only need about 6in.
baby ackies are tiny and I would suggest using temporary cages as they grow.
They do well on crickets and roaches.
Cage size sounds good
Dustin

[Aanayab1]

Gatorhunter: Thank you for your reply and pointers. I'm looking forward to the more detailed post as well.

I have decided to not do the drainage and closed loop system on this setup due to my lack of experience with monitors and go with what is proven to work. I will instead build a second cage with the closed loop system. I will not house anything in the cage and simply use it test/experiment with the idea. If it works like I think I will, I will then come to a decision if it is usable with monitors.

[Gatorhunter1231]

I don't seem to have any good pics of my adults setup which is a bummer. I had a big fire about 2 months ago and lost everything but my female ackie so my current cage is nothing to look at for now. I do have pics of my varanus tristis tristis cage which my ackie cage was similiar to other then I gave my ackies a foam wall to climb and my ackie cage was only 4ft high instead of 6ft.

[Aanayab1]

This helps tremendasly!!! Thank you Gatorhunter1231.

I hope other owners chime in as well.

Antonio

[varanus_mad]

Captive husbandry of Varanus acanthurus, aka The Ackie.

Ackies are a member of the monitor family (varanus) and are classed as a dwarf monitor (odatria).
They rarely exceed 24 inches in length and make good and rewarding captives if provided with good husbandry during their lives. I would like to address what constitutes good husbandry here, and would like this to become a place to discuss our experiences and success with these amazing lizards as they seem to be growing in popularity recently. I must stress that I am not a fan of care sheets and that here I am merely trying to point people in the right direction.

Enclosure
I feel the minimum size enclosure for a single, or group of ackies is a 5x3x2. They are active lizards and appreciate a decent sized enclosure. The 3 feet of height is recommended as you need to provide at least a foot of substrate. Ackies like to burrow and will also nest in deep substrate. The enclosure can be made from wood but it is important to reinforce the bottom plinth section as a deep substrate puts a lot of pressure on the sides of the enclosure and the reinforcement is needed to prevent the wood from bowing and warping under such pressure.
It is also very important to seal the inside of the enclosure to protect the wood from the damp substrate and high humidity levels from within. I have used melamine in the past and have not had a single enclosure last more than 18 months before taking on water and blowing out. I have found plywood to be much better when coated with something like yacht varnish (minimum of 7 coats), a 2 part epoxy resin such as garage floor paint or a boat builder’s epoxy and I know people who have had success with blagdons V8 pond sealer.
Heating
Before going into how to heat the enclosure I’ll take a look at how ackies use temperatures and what they need to be successful.
Ackies, like all monitors require very high basking temperatures to be able to metabolise properly. A good basking site should have a minimum surface temperature of 135F. Personally I have used temperatures of up to 160F but slightly lower is recommended, especially to newcomers to monitors. It is important to recognise the difference between surface temperatures and ambient temperatures. Ambients are the temperature of the surrounding air, and surface temperatures are the temp of the actual objects surface. When an ackie basks it flattens and spreads its whole body on the basking site to soak up as much heat as possible. Therefore it is these surface temperatures that are important to us. A lot more important than the ambient temps. So it is essential to be able to accurately take readings of these surface temps and the best thing to do this with is an infra-red temperature gun. This is the single most important piece of equipment that a monitor keeper can own. They are quite cheap and readily available from ebay or maplins electronics stores. I don’t use any thermometers in my enclosures, however I take readings from my temp gun daily.

The best type of bulbs to use for the basking site are par38 halogen floodlights. These create a really wide beam of light which is important as the basking spot should at the very minimum be the SVL of the ackie. Ideally you are aiming for the total length of the monitor, and it is usually necessary to use 2 smaller wattage bulbs side by side rather than one higher wattage bulb. I should state that these bulbs are not run on a thermostat so you must choose wattages that will not overheat the enclosure. The best way to make fine adjustments to the basking site temperatures is by using a porcelain bulb holder hung by a chain from the top of the enclosure. You can then lower or raise the bulb to the basking site until you reach your desired temperatures.
There must be a gradient of temperatures within the enclosure and again I use the infra-red temperature gun to take readings, although thermometers are sufficient for this purpose. What you are aiming for in any monitor enclosure is a good range. You need to be able to offer the ackie multiple choices of temperatures so it can pick one to suit it’s needs. Ambient temps between 95F and 75F are ideal. While on the subject of choices, an ideal basking site for ackies is a “Retes Stack”. This is a stack of plywood boards or slate tiles that offer many layers of tight spaces under the basking spot. Each layer on the stack gets cooler the further away from basking lamp and this gives the ackies choices of many different temperatures to bask at.
Additional heating can be provided by a ceramic heat bulb or ceramic tube via a pulse stat. I do not use any additional heating as I keep my basking lights on 24/7 and choose bulbs that maintain the desired temperatures throughout the enclosure. I’ll discuss the advantages of 24/7 basking further on.
Lighting and UV
Lighting the enclosure can be done via fluorescent tubes or compact fluorescent bulbs. I have used both and prefer the tubes as they are less bulky and give a better spread of light. I have recently switched over to the new T5 type tubes which have a much higher light output for the same wattage than the conventional T8 tubes. Ambient lighting is provided via a 16/8 day/night cycle.
I do not use any form of UV in my enclosures. Monitors simply do not need it to thrive. I have raised babies I have hatched to healthy egg laying adults without it. I have maintained older reproducing adults without it. There are some minor benefits to using UV such as it increasing the colours of your ackies and enabling them to see a greater range of colours but they do not require it for a healthy life. I know this is a heated topic and I am not recommending you to not add it to your enclosure. The choice is yours but they will do fine with or without it.
Deep Substrate
A deep substrate is an absolute must for ackies. They are a burrowing species and enjoy a minimum of a foot of substrate to create their burrows and tunnels in. Females will also nest their eggs in the substrate. A mix of sterilised topsoil and playsand can work well as can a sandy loam type dirt if you can find anywhere to go dig it up. Ackies come from areas that contain a Xeric soil. That is a soil that contains little to no decaying plant matter. Whatever substrate you use, you must dampen it down enough so that it will form a burrow well without collapsing.

Humidity
Another advantage of deep substrate is it holds a good humidity in the enclosure without the need to regularly mist. I never mist my ackies enclosures and just simply add water to the dirt if it looks like it is drying out. It is important to keep a relatively high humidity in the enclosure and I do not use vents at all in any of mine. I simply do not see the point of going to all the trouble of heating and humidifying the cage just to let it all out again. The gap between the glass along with the daily opening of the doors for maintenance is more than adequate for fresh air exchange. I also do not use hygrometers. As long as I can feel the heat and humidity hit me in the face when I open the doors then I’m happy. Kind of like when you step off a plane into a hot tropical country and the heat and humidity is almost overwhelming.
Diet
Ackies have voracious appetites and will consume a wide variety of prey. A diet made mostly of invertebrates is recommended, with crickets, locusts and cockroaches all making a good staple feeder item. Ackies eat a lot and it is well worth maintaining a cockroach colony to save on feeding costs. Mice can be given once a week as can chopped up day old chicks. I am personally not a fan of supplementing the diet with items such as egg or turkey mince. I feel it is important that every meal should consist of whole prey food items. That way the monitor gets a good range and ratio of nutrients. In the wild ackies will always consume whole prey apart from the odd chances they get to feed on carrion. Whole prey contains a range of nutrients, amino acids, soluble and insoluble fibers that are present in a ratio that the lizards have evolved to digest and thrive upon. In single item foods such as turkey mince that range is substantially less and the bioavailability of the nutrients offered is reduced. For those reasons I feel whole prey is superior and I believe it should be given for every feed.
I feed my ackies as much as they can eat every day. A few smaller feedings several times a day is much better than one large daily feeding. With good temperatures and humidity your ackies will not get fat. Hatchlings and juveniles will put all energy into growth, and sexually mature monitors will put all energy into reproduction. Please bear in mind that I am a breeder, and if I were keeping a solitary animal as a pet then such a high feeding regime would not be needed and a feed every two days would probably suffice although I must admit I have never kept a lone ackie.
2 days a week I add Nutrobal to their feedings with all the other feedings dusted in 100% pure calcium carbonate.
Ackies rarely drink but a small water bowl with fresh water changed daily should be present in the enclosure at all times.

[varanus_mad]

Breeding
Breeding ackies is relatively straightforward providing your husbandry is at a good enough level to support sexually reproductive individuals. Obviously to stand a chance at breeding you need animals of either sex. The best way to do this is by raising up a group of hatchlings together. This way the monitors are used to one another and can form quite strong bonds with one another. Mixing and matching adults together is hit and miss at best, and the results experienced are not even comparable to adults that have been reared together.

Sexing
Ackies start to develop secondary sexual characteristics when they are around 5 months old if supported well by good husbandry. That’s around 12 inches total length. Males have a broader head, neck and shoulders to females as well as more muscular front limbs. Their feet are also a lot larger in proportion to females. The dorsal patterning on males is usually a lot more defined and pronounced. Males also have a thicker tail base and the spurs located either side of the vent are hard to the touch and larger than a females which will feel quite soft in comparison. Males are also a lot more bold and will be out and roaming the enclosure a lot more frequently than females who tend to hide a lot more. It must be said that the only 100% accurate way of determining a female is by having one lay eggs for you. Dominant males are easy to tell but less dominant males can take on a female appearance. Sexing monitors is tricky at best, especially females.
Cycling
Providing that you give your ackies enough food and heat then it is inevitable that the females will cycle and produce eggs. Females will build up fat reserves mainly around the base of the tail and the tail itself. If a female has adequate reserves of fat then she begins a process called vitellogenesis. This is when the female uses her fat reserves to produce yolk in her ovum (undeveloped eggs). When this occurs the female will noticeably swell around the abdomen. Females can and will undergo this cycling regardless of the presence of a male. If a male is present then they will be fertilised, if not she will have non viable ova but she must still be given the opportunity to lay them like viable eggs because if she reabsorbs them it can be hazardous to her health. This is why I feel that female ackies do not make great pets if kept alone. It is far better to keep a single male ackie.
Copulation
Once a female has swollen up with unfertilised eggs she will emit pheromones to signal to any males present that she is ready to have her eggs fertilised. This is when true copulation is witnessed. True copulation (also called mating or locking up) is a rather gentle affair. I have never witnessed any biting and it starts with the male following the female all around the enclosure. He will take particular interest in her sides and the base of her tail, often stopping to nudge and tongue flick these areas. The male will also make jerky, almost robotic side to side head movements. Eventually the female will allow the male to lay beside her and the male will use his hind feet to gently scratch her tail base in an attempt to persuade her to lift her tail and allow him to insert one of his hemipenes. Once they are locked up they can remain so for hours at a time, often falling asleep together in the position. Such mating will occur regularly for between 2 and 5 days while the female is still producing pheromones. She will then stop producing these and copulation will cease.
True copulation as has just been described is not to be confused with “mock mating” which is a dominance thing. “Mock mating” can occur between any sexes. Males will mate males, females will mate males and all the options in between. This is just a way for individuals to assert dominance over one another to establish a natural pecking order.

Nesting
Once a female has successfully copulated with a male and her eggs have been fertilised she will allow the eggs to develop inside her for 14 to 30 days after last copulation before seeking a place to lay them. The amount of time between last copulation and oviposition (laying of eggs) is a good indicator of her approval of the nesting options you have provided her with. If a female lays the eggs more than 30 days after last copulation then this is a sure sign that your nesting options are inadequate. Prolonged retention of the eggs is harmful for the female. The eggs start to decompose inside the uterus which causes infection, uterine rupture and peritonitis (infection of the abdominal cavity). In worse case scenarios this infection spreads throughout the body leading to death. This is the most common cause of death to female monitors in captivity and highlights how important it is to make available good nesting options.
So what is good nesting?
A good question and one that in my opinion can probably never be answered in full; let’s look at the basics first. Ackies like to lay their eggs buried deep down in soil. They are seeking a place that is roughly in the mid 80’s F. The soil must be damp enough so that it holds a burrow well. The nesting substrate can consist of a topsoil/sand mix but the keeper must pay close attention to the amount of time the female holds her eggs after last copulation. If after the safe 30 day period then it can pay to experiment with the ratio of soil/sand to reduce the amount of time the female holds the eggs for.
To explain this a little better I will draw on a past experience of mine with a particular female ackie.
This female ackie had nested her eggs well for me in a topsoil/sand mix for a few clutches after she had come into my care as a 3 year old adult. However one clutch was laid 33 days after last copulation whereas it had been an average of 18 days for her previous clutches. I was not happy with those results so added some more sand to the mix, making the ratio slightly sand heavy. She returned to the normal 18 days for the next clutch after this but again results deteriorated. I then went to the extreme of hauling kilos upon kilos of a sandy/gravelly dirt from a gravel pit that I fish and filled her enclosure with this. Again results returned to the 18 day norm and continued to stay there until I parted with her.
This example also demonstrates how females can become more fussy of their preferred nesting as they get older. Females nesting for the first few times are easy to cater for but as they get older they seem to become more specific in what they are looking for in a potential nesting site.
Although I know a lot of people have success with nesting boxes I am personally not a fan. I feel providing them with a good 12” or more of substrate throughout the length of the enclosure is not only superior, but also allows for a greater margin of error on the keepers part. Having a small nest box means that the conditions the keeper is making available must be perfect. Again, this is more important with older females and I would like to hear from anybody who has an old (7 years plus) reproductive female who has only ever had access to a nest box as I doubt any exist.
Incubation
Once the eggs have been laid they must be removed from the enclosure and artificially incubated. My preferred method for this is to place the eggs in a container filled with perlite that has been mixed with water to a ratio of 0.8:1 (perlite:water). Incubated at 85F the eggs take an average of 105 days to hatch. My preferred containers are 7.5 litre Tupperware containers with the lid on and just three or four 2mm holes drilled in the sides to allow the pressure in the egg box to be the same as in the incubator. I know of people who did not provide these holes who have had their eggs pop when they opened the lid and the pressure rapidly changed. I use large egg boxes as the larger the mass the more slow any variations in temperature and humidity will be. Ackie eggs should never be rotated during incubation and it is necessary to place them in the incubation box in the same position as they were when dug up. Some breeders choose to mark the top of the eggs with a graphite pencil to show the correct orientation. Once the eggs are placed in the incubator it is essential that they are left alone other than opening the lid every 2 weeks for a couple of minutes to allow for fresh air exchange. The more the eggs are left alone the better the chance of them hatching becomes.
Rearing the hatchlings
Rearing hatchlings is simple. Once they have hatched I place them into another Tupperware container with damp paper towels as a substrate and keep this in the incubator until the umbilical wound has healed. This usually takes around 24 hours. I then place them in an enclosure that is set up exactly the same as the adults, only on a smaller scale and with a lower basking surface temperature of 125F. They feed on crickets, locusts and cockroaches of suitable sizes as well as chopped up pinkies. Supplementation is the same as for the adults. They can be raised in groups but squabbles can occur and smaller, less dominant individuals may be bullied away from food and basking sites. This is where 24/7 basking comes in to play.
24/7 Basking Lights
When keeping ackies in a group whether they are adults or juveniles, providing them with access to a basking site at all hours is advantageous. It allows the less dominant individuals to come out when the dominant ones are asleep and feed and bask as normal. Ackies are really clever lizards and they will soon work out a pattern that suits them within the group. With 24/7 access to basking group growth rates are a lot more even and it is far less likely to have an individual die from being bullied.

Hope this helps.

Written by a good mate of mine

[Aanayab1]

varaanus_mad: I can not thank you or your mate enough for this wealth of information. With permission I would like to print these off so I can keep them in a folder of all the useful information on Ackies I am finding. Again Thank you. One quick question on the dimentions of the cage size he spoke of, 5x3x2. Is that LxHxW? I have not assembled my adult cage yet and was planning on 4'x4'x2' (LxHxW) so I could very easily do 5'x4'x2' or 5'x4'x3' (LxHxW).

Antonio

[Barlow]

Hi. I wrote that guide and I meant 5Lx3Hx2W as a bare minimum. You can print off and do whatever with the guide. I wrote it because I was seeing so many ackies here in the Uk being kept in poor conditions and wanted to help educate people. I'm not after kudos or anything similar so please share it as much as you can.

Regards, Chris.

[Aanayab1]

Barlow: Thank you and I will share it as much as possible. I start building my enclosure tomorrow, and will be going with 5'Lx4'Hx2.5'W. I will be posting the enclosure and brief how to in another thread titled "Varanid enclosure thread(picture based)" If you have any other info you may think would help me or people just starting out please post it here or in the other thread I mentioned.

Antonio

[Gatorhunter1231]

That is a good caresheet chris. Covers ackies pretty well. I would only suggest multiply basking spots to help with the bullying. I generally do not do 24/7 lights on larger adults do to they will start being more active at night. Then they will spend the day in their burrows.

[Barlow]

I have never seen the need for multiple basking spots while using 24/7 basking. I don't see the problem of them coming out at night. They can use what they want, when they want. Photoperiods have proved totally useless to me with monitors. Thankyou for your kind comments regarding my write up. I try not to call it a care sheet as I despise such things lol.

[Aanayab1]

I had spoke to a man at proexotics the other day who said they also had stopped using the 24/7 light cycle as well and unfortunately our conversation drifted elsewhere before he explained the reason they stopped using that light cycle... While on the topic, what is a good light cycle? 12hrs on, 12 hrs off or should it be different?

Antonio

[Aanayab1]

Oh I have been wondering if there is any type of heating mat I should be getting to put under the tank to heat the substrate so it will hold a constant temperature? I was thinking that in nature soil probably stays (I have found no evidence written about this it is just an assumption) an even temperature for the most part due to the sheer volume of it but in an enclosure that only has 4'x2'x2' it will probably drop quite fast if the lights are not on 24/7, providing a constant heat source.

Antonio

[Barlow]

I insulate the bottom and sides of my enclosures so the soil keeps a good temp.