I will finally be joining the monitor club and would love to hear any and all advice! He is an AWM cumingi locality. His breeder has approved my setup and experience/research so not many questions there unless you want to quiz me! (I am open to a quiz question though! Haha) I do have a vet as well.

Aside from any advice, I do have a few questions:

- What’s your favorite part about owning an AWM? :)

- Routine for cleaning up after poops in the bathtub? Currently thinking I will fish out what solids I can and then drain and disinfect.

- What does your enclosure cleaning routine look like daily/weekly/monthly?

- I want to get him used to me “brushing” him to help with sheds so I thought starting with a soft bristle tooth brush at bath time would be good, thoughts?

- Enrichment ideas, I currently plan to take him outside on a harness, have him out as much as possible, out of enclosure basking site, dog puzzles, hiding food “hunts”, supervised whole prey sessions (he’s still little), crickets and goldfish in the bathtub, maybe hide food under some small rocks at bath time, outside of enclosure water feature for when he’s out, maybe a little cardboard maze house or something with food hidden?, nature sounds to mimic natural environment, cat tree with fake plants/vines, maybe clicker training..?

- I’m already planning his next enclosure for when he grows out of the current one. I’d like to figure out a way to do water changes without having to pick it up and dump it or connecting to sewage. I’m thinking a drain with a bucket under it that I can dump out or an electric fish tank “gravel cleaner” pump that I could turn on and pump into the toilet. Has anyone used something like that?

- Future plans if you’re curious. 10x10 minimum and also will not rest until he has the ability to swim indefinitely if he wants to. So some circular or very large water body 100%. Think moat/lazy river. I don’t like to see them only have tubs if I’m being honest. I’m sure they are happy and well kept but if he wants to swim for a mile I want him to be able to (even if it’s in circles lol!). I just want him to be able to feel like he can swim “somewhere” or at least keep swimming instead of just being able to sit in it.

It reads, "Less catcalls, more cats". I forgot I even owned it 🤷🏻‍♀️ it's non-scented btw, just a hunk of cardboard lol

Enjoy my disgust when she starts smashing the mealworm into my hand

Not a dragon, I know, just had to go with the punny title.

This little rascal King is my male V. tristis and he has been putting me through horny hell for over a year. I come seeking more advice, because I'm genuinely at a loss for words.

My lizard. Wants to mate. With my skin and clothes. 😭

Previously I posted about this over 6 months ago and was suggested to redirect his mating behaviour to a sock, and it did work for a month or so, but now nothing shakes his determination to court my hand.

Please send help. I love King, but I don't love him that way. He refuses to believe that.

He’s only eaten Dubai’s for the last 6-9 months at least. Won’t eat crickets, meal worms, sometimes won’t even eat the adult male Dubai’s with wings but will eat the females. It’s like he’s scared to eat anything else other than ground beef or chicken/eggs which I only give him once in a blue moon. How can I ensure he’s getting enough nutrients. They do not have grasshoppers or basically any other feeders in shops around me (different types of worms are basically the only other option) unless anybody knows where I can get different feeders online. I’m in Southern California btw.

Will he be fine if he only eats Dubai’s? Is there some sort of supplement I can give him to make up for it?

Loki soaking up some heat

came back from a 5 day trip and he decided to interrupt water cleaning with intense holding demands

we also have a like mother like son stare is seems 🖤

I never, ever get tired of Liora declaring it’s snuggle time 🥰

Hunting like an absolute badass...

He is definitely a bit special 😂

I have no prior experience with monitor lizards, but I do have alot of prior experience with reptiles (sandfish skink, bearded dragons, gargoyle geckos, mourning geckos, tortoises, and Amphibians)

I really want to get into keeping large species, as I am one of those people who always look for something bigger (extreme dinosaur autism lol).

Space is not really a problem (within reason ofcourse) since my current living situation is a really wide hallway with plenty of space if i move some things around.

I'm looking for something intelligent with relatively non-tedious care and low upfront cost of the animal itself (money is not an issue but still finite and I'd rather have money over to actually put into the enclosure itself)

Please let me know what you guys think, am I stupid? are my expectations too high? Idk.

Apologies for any grammar mistakes, english is not my first language.

After a week of leaving her alone I tried offering my hand and bribing her with her favourite snack and she came right up. She did not like me pulling out my phone tho. I really have to get over my ick of bugs I pull back once she starts trying to smash them into my hand 🌝

Not my animals, but at a local small reptile store near me. I have no idea how they got in this situation, but its hilarious.

I love being Liora’s warm body pillow!

She kept pawing at the glass demanding my attention, then clobbered in kissies and cuddles before taking a nap on my boob. I love her so much 🥰🦕

Hi, since a week my lizard has a swollen toe as you can see in the picture.

She is shedding skin at the moment. Two times a day i place her in a small bath with luke warm water for 20 minutes, after that i clean her up with some q tips.

I don't see skin wrapped around the swollen feet it looks clear to me.

The first 2 days it looked a little bit red, now it just looks likes this.

She eats well, moves around like normal and is active. Does this look likes it need attention at the vet? Or wait a couple of days to see if it gets better.

I'm not feeling worried for now because i see her behaving like normal

Some background info, I got this little black headed monitor a few weeks ago from a pet shop, I’m normally against buying from pet stores but I really felt bad for this lil guy, it got to a point where I was visiting him everyday so eventually I decided to just get him. For the 6 months he had been at that pet shop, he lost 2 toes, a claw/nail, and a couple inches off the end of his tail due to stuck shed I’m assuming, and it was clear that he would loose more the longer he was there.
So I got him, popped him into his enclosure and and made sure humidity was kept consistently at 55% as that’s what I’ve been recommended for their species. He’s also got his main water bowl and also 2 small shallow dishes which I see him drink out of every now and again. I gave him some warm shallow baths too to help and he became all clear of any stuck shed and He had been shedding well with no problems since I got him. Took him to the vets about 2 weeks ago for a full checkup since the pet shop clearly weren’t taking care of him properly. They said he was all good toes and tail were all healed so to just keep an eye out for anymore stuck shed, and then showed me what to do if he got anymore stuck shed.

So fast forward to 5 days ago, I noticed a centimetre on the end of his tail had some shed stuck, it really came out of nowhere, the rest of his tail had finished shedding a couple days prior and the end looked completely fine.

Anyways so we got back into it with daily warm water soaks and gauze to gently rub the shed like the vet showed me. It lowkey did nothing though there was zero progress up until today and it started to look constricted so I decided absolutely not on my watch sir you will not be loosing another speck of your tail, and I got to work for over an hour rubbing with the gauze, he wanted to go climb around my room and I said NO you’re staying right here until this is done, and so he did.

after finally getting the shed off, it was bright red underneath, like the stuck shed took his healthy scales with it? I don’t know how that happened since I was being super gentle and only used cotton gauze, but maybe just the constant rubbing and soaking :/
I feel so so terrible, it looks so sore. He was so good letting me work on his tail and trusting me to do this,, and I failed him😩 I just feel awful my poor baby.
And after all that, im not even sure if I removed all of the stuck shed, who knows perhaps he will still loose that bit of his tail, but I really hope not after what he sat through.
I just wanted some opinions, I’m probably going to take him back to the vet on Monday anyways, but I just wanted to hear what people’s thoughts are or if they can give me any advice or how serious this is? I’m already panicking but I would like to know if I need to panic more please.

If you read all of this Thankyou so very much I appreciate it heaps.

Regards,
- a very guilty-feeling monitor mum

The kind without any pain killers, of course 👍🏻

His dinner. Peace and love for all insectkind.

Too busy basking to channel his primal murder instincts.

4x2x2 for size reference 138 peak hotspot T5 uvb strip as well Humidity around mid to high 60s Hides both under hot spot and on cool end water bowl back right .

Hi there! apologies for the long read!

I recently picked up at 3.5 month old Ackie. As of today I've had them for one week. However I had to run them to my exotic vet today because I noticed them dragging their hind quarters against their substrate and wood/rock. Then I noticed a prolapse. They are currently having an overnight stay with my vet and xray is being done in the morning to let me know what caused this.

I'm reaching out for additional insight as to what may have caused this. I'm thinking it may be my substrate as I was allowing them to chase their prey around the enclosure (maybe they ingested some of the substrate?).

I'm going to give some information, and would love to receive any advice/correction. I've done a fair bit of research and preparing prior to getting my ackie as they are my first monitor. I've got several geckos, frogs, and invertebrates already.

Enclosure:

- 20 gallon long, with pvc backing, and front opening doors.

- 50/50 mix of reptisoil and excavator sand. Bottom layer damp for humidity when burrowing. Top layer dry.

- Basking spot: Flukers 150 watt basking bulb. This is on the hot end, and below it are stacked rocks.

I use a thermometer gun to check heat. On the surface of the top rock it reads at 124F

I have two additional digital thermometers on both hot and cool sides.

Hot ambient temps are around 104F

Cool ambient temps are 85-90F during day, around 75F at night.

- Hot side, I alternate between the basking bulb during the day, and infrared heat emitter at night to keep things warm enough for digesting. (I've seen mixed information on whether or not you should have heat at night if the rooms ambient temperature is above 70F)

- Feeding. I feed 1 week and small crickets, dusted with calcium every day. I feed them as much as they want to eat during a feeding. Yesterday, they ate about 15 small crickets. It's my understanding that they should eat until they're full and that's sufficient as they are growing like weeds at this age. Can they be overfed or risk impaction due to this?

They have a water dish that's shallow but big enough for them to enter if they so choose. I've seen then interact with it so I know they were aware of it. I don't feel like hydration was the issue.

** That all said, they are currently with my vet and the prolapse was mended with additional tests being done tomorrow (whatever they can do since they are a wee little lamb)

Any advice or information from individuals well-versed in Ackie husbandry is welcome, and that includes constructive criticism. I am enamored with this baby and really thought I had everything down to a science. I'm always happy to correct course and admit when I'm wrong. Thanks in advance to anyone who took the time to read this and lend their thoughts.

Hi all!

I recently went down a rabbit hole of monitor training attempts. It seems like the most well documented instance is with the “Mink Man” and his Argus monitor Raptor. It seems like they were making progress however he seems to have stopped updates on raptor about 5 years ago. Wondering if anyone knew any info.

Has anyone tried any training in here? If so which species and technique?