ive wanted one for like forever so i was wondering whats the growth rate per month/ year. and how big of an enclouser should i build to house him for his life. thanks for the help.
nile monitors
- Thread starter thefishofdoom
- Start date
I agree with you,the babies are so cute.The growth is rapid.I`ve seen them reach the 36 inch mark at around 3-4 years.The adults loose the bright colours and end up just brown with dark markings.All the adults I`ve seen are quite ugly.Be warned that they produce alot of very smelly waste.Forget about filtering their pond,most guys just drain and refill every couple of days.I`ve seen plenty of big adults out in the bush and they are BIG and FAST.I can`t comprehend keeping large adults in cages. You would have to build something out in the garden if you have the right climate.I think that you should look for something with a smaller adult size.By the way I`ve eaten them too during my basic training [military ]Quite tasteless but then we had no salt or pepper plus we were starving.
Not sure on a precise growth rate, but one can expect them to reach an adult size of about 5-6 ft within 4 yrs. Once he's about 1.5-2 yrs old, I'd start looking/building for something permanent. I'm sure a larger enclosure is more ideal, bt the absolute bare minimum dimensions should be the length of the adult lizard, the same height, and half of that for width; so you'd need something at least 6'L x 6'H x x 3'W.
Youre gonna need at least an 8 foot long enclosure for one adult. Remember these things have a high percentage of nastiness in them... so the matter of getting a socialble monitor will be slim to none. Although I have seen some that do accept their keeper. If i may suggest looking into black/ white throat monitors... theyre alittle more pricer, but they are not nasty and they dont require such huge enclosures... specially the whitethroat. IF you do decide on the Nile good luck... they are beautiful varanids, but they are a handful.
ya i have my mind stuck on them but held off till i can get an encloser for it. what would say about the natural temp range is in summer and winter. just curious if i can keep outdoors.lol
A good rule of thumb for monitor cages are twice the lizards length by half the length, but bigger is always better. That means at least 12'x3'. Keep in mind that nile monitors are fairly active as far as monitors go. Niles are pretty, but their are far better choices out their for similar looking monitors. Check out argus and yellow monitors. They both still get about 5-6 feet, but are generally easier to handle.