monitor enclosure....need some help

[JeffLeMay]

okay, so my savannah monitor is now a little over 2 feet long (i underestimated his size slightly) and i'm finally going to home depot this week to buy supplies to build his new enclosure. i know i want the sides and bottom to be plywood, while the top will be screen and the front plexiglass. only problem is, i have no idea what i'm doing! can anyone help? is there a place online i can get some plans, or has anyone else on here built something similar? any help would be greatly appreciated as always.

 

[Z Trip]

Well you can start by feeding it a proper diet and we might help you.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Well you can start by feeding it a proper diet and we might help you.

HA HA! Good one.

Seriously, its kinda pointless to invest in a larger enclosure if the animal is very likely to die from obesity, liver disease, high cholesterol, etc. But hey, who cares about the animal, anyway; as long as you get your jollies by watching it eat a mouse...that's what's really important here.

 

[Z Trip]

HA HA! Good one.

Seriously, its kinda pointless to invest in a larger enclosure if the animal is very likely to die from obesity, liver disease, high cholesterol, etc. But hey, who cares about the animal, anyway; as long as you get your jollies by watching it eat a mouse...that's what's really important here.

I love you! (you know what I mean! )

 

[softturtle]

WTF were those last replies about? I take it I missed something? If you guys are mad becuase he fed a monitor a mouse.... gimme a break.

Now to your question. I would scrap the plywood and use melamine particle board. It has a better resistance to moisture than plywood. And plexi glass will get destroyed by a monitor. I would go with real glass. 3/8" should have no problem holding that monitor in for a while.

 

[Z Trip]

Yes you did miss something: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47779:popcorn:

 

[Ophiuchus]

WTF were those last replies about? I take it I missed something? If you guys are mad becuase he fed a monitor a mouse.... gimme a break.

No, we're upset because he feeds it four a week. I'm okay with one mouse like every 2 weeks or so. But 4 a week (with rarely any supplement) is not a good diet. It's like us eating nothing but McDonalds and Outback steak everyday; it may be years before we would start feeling the negative effects of such a diet, but it would catch up to us.

 

[softturtle]

Yeah, 4 mice a week can mess things up. I wouldn't be worried about a obeise lizard as much as a blocked up lizard. That much fur could block just about anything up. You know if you fed one dead rat a week it would be better. And this might be gross, but if you cut it open(gut), the monitor would bypass all the fur and go for the good stuff.

 

[Z Trip]

Its like Super Size Me, the movie. In one month of Mc Donalds, this guy was so out of shape. Monitors dont get any furr in the wild diet. The are to lazy, slow and pretty much stupid and are not able to catch a mouse out of its cage. I know this. I ustu take mine out and he was unable to chase it, the mouse was to fast and turned to sharply for the lizard to follow. I dont believe they should be fed at alll.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Here's a few articles I dug up on sav care. I posted them elsewhere but I want to make sure everyone gets an opportunity to read them. Please note the sections on diet, specifically on their natural diet and how whole adult rodents affect them.

http://www.wnyherp.org/care-sheets/lizards/savannah-monitor.php

http://www.petuniversity.com/reptiles/lizards/species/savannah-monitor/feeding.htm

http://www.anapsid.org/savannah.html

http://www.anapsid.org/balsai.html

http://www.anapsid.org/heplipidosis.html

http://coloherp.org/cb-news/archive/careshts/Savannahs.php

Z-Trip, you'll find that many of these articles, while discourage excessive rodent feedings, also advise against an insect-only diet, which lead to vitamin and calcium deficiencies.

Like I've said 100x before (and will continue to say), variety and balance are very important, with any animal's diet. I'm so sick and tired of stupid people (yes, I'm calling you stupid because you're exhibiting a deliberate disregard for the facts) assuming that just because the animal loves to eat a particular food, that must be his staple diet. Does this logic really make sense to you people?! If so, does that mean you're gonna feed your children nothing but ice cream, cake and candy (if you, by some chance, succeed in cursing the planet by reproducing)? This goes for pacman frogs, iguanas, cichlids, etc etc.