Wanting a Sav Monitor but...

[Solid Snake]

today i took a trip to the local reptile shop to buy rats for my Boa and Pythons and i saw a baby Sav monitor. It looked really cute and i always wanted a lizard. Bad thing is, i only have experience with Geckos and such. Are these guys a hand full when they're grown up? How large do they get? and are they good tempered? What size tank would i need?

[LadyHawke]

Some may be adult at 2 1/2 feet, others can exceed 4 1/2 and very few near 6 ft.
a baby can be housed temporarily in a a 50 gallon aquarium, and adults need a floor space of no less then 100 square feet.
A variety in a Savannah's diet is the best, insects, crayfish, snails, and rodents
Juveniles can be cranky, but i have one thats just over 2 feet and is very docile. Regular and gentle handling and they make wonderful pets, you just have to keep the adult size in mind

[SerpentLust]

I've had nothing but good things to say about Savs, IF you can properly house and feed them full grown. Everyone I've had the pleasure of handling has been puppy tame and very great personality wise.

Jenn

[JeffT]

As I remember from the past on here, They need an enclosure no less then 6 X 3 X 3 (maby the depth is off by a foot). I also know they eat a ton and that makes them hard to provide for. In my opinion they will end up like the iguana, already you see the classifieds filled with ads of these guys for sale and their prices are going waaaay down. But If you can provide for them and give them all that is needed they are a good, mostly friendly monitor.

Jeff

[Solid Snake]

damn never knew they needed such big enclosures. I have a large enough room but i dont want to buy a 6 foot tank. They're WAAAY too heavy. What do u guys put yur monitors in?

[JeffT]

Noooo you dont have to buy one that big, its betetr to make one haha. Ill bet buying one that wig would be in the high end hundreds, where as building one your self would probably cost like $60.

[Loki]

buying an adaquite custom enclosure is can be 900-1500$ for a good one. ive been sent a couple catlogs, some of em range up to over 2000$. so jeffs idea of building one is much cheaper.