Anyone else into Reptiles?

[Hugh Mann]

After a long wait, I finally got myself a Kimberly Rock Monitor. An arboreal species, native to cliff faces in Northern Australia, I got this guy from a breeder in Ontario. Born about mid July, he's already got some good size to him. Haven't yet witnessed him eating anything, but the crickets and worms are disappearing. His favorite activity is sitting under the basking lamps and climbing all over the place.

A friend of mine got two unrelated females from the same breeder, and in about 18 months, we're hoping to give it a go ourselves.

I can't wait until he's big enough to start eating baby rats, which I am also starting to breed.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Beautiful! How big do they get? What's their length minus the tail?

Also, I'm sure you're a responsible reptile owner, so like...how does one keep a large(?) monitor like that? Do they get their own room or something? Wait. IS this what you're doing with that old room of yours that used to be a sewing room?

 

[Hugh Mann]

They actually don't get very big. About 80cm for a typical adult. 75% of which is tail. Lots and lots of tail. He's currently about half that with the same proportions. What happens is the males put on a big growth spurt from birth, and after a few months slow down until introduced to females, then they go through another spurt, while females grow steady, but slowly. The two females, 3 weeks his junior aren't even half his size.

I have him in a 125 gallon aquarium I stacked with rocks, and am currently cleaning up a bunch of wood to add in as well. He's in my basement, which is actually warmer and more humid than my upstairs thanks to the aquariums and heat lamps.

 

[ichthyogeek]

80 cm still seems kinda big to me. Do reptiles have minimum space requirements like fish do? I've always heard that monitors are not the most ideal pet lizards bc they can get bitey and hurt you and need a lot of space.

Personally I'm more of a snake/tortoise guy.

 

[Hugh Mann]

It's on the small side for monitors. My friend there plans to get some tree monitors that dwarf Kimberlys.

They definitely do have a minimum size, but as long as they have room to climb, hide and bask they're pretty content. The breeder keeps his in similar volumes, though he has more vertical than horizontal enclosures. I eventually plan to build up the height a bit for more climbing room.

As for being bitey, at least with these guys, it's all about handling them a lot when they're young. He's still on the skittish side, but once he settles in, I'm going to handle him a bit every day. Once they get used to it, they can be pretty tame.

Snakes are awesome too. It was either the Kimberly, or a carpet python.

 

[Waters]

Very cool. I have kept monitors and Tegus my whole life...here are a few pics of my setups

 

[Hugh Mann]

Awesome setup! Mine is pretty bare bones at the moment, but working on improving it.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

I'm mainly a reptile person... I currently have:

1.1 Anery Kenyan sand boas
1.1 Tangerine Honduran milksnakes
1.1 spotted pythons
1.1 Rhino ratsnakes
1.0 Mexican black king snake
0.1 Florida king snake
1.2 ball pythons (Mojave, pastel and spider)
1.0 Amazon tree boa

For lizards I have my main man Root (Eastern blue tongue skink) and my lovely little banded knob tail gecko Pele! Any chance you got that guy from Brandon? Gorgeous lizard!

 

[Hugh Mann]

Actually yes, yes I did. Both him and my friend's females. Apparently they go way back.

If I was ever to get a snake, one I would consider is an amazon tree boa. I've heard they're pretty awesome.