Hows my path toward owning a monitor?

[BrandonVeenstra]

Well, recently I have been intrigued by monitors. I've had some basic herps in the past, Cal Kings, Corns, Emperor Scorpions, and enjoyed them all. But because of this sudden change of heart toward monitors, I'm going to be selling my king and giving my corn away in order to start the building of a habitat for a monitor. How’s my idea so far...

This habitat will be for a peach-throat monitor which I believe will suit me best. I have roughly sketched out and wrote down some ideas on the cage. Here’s what I have so far. I may decide to scan up my rough sketch and jotted down ideas, but they are very sloppy (never passed art in public school, didn’t take during high school (and wont start)

I will build it myself. The cage being 9.5' by 4.5' possible 5' if I can conjure up some more room. A depth of 4'. I will use a reptile-bark substrate which I have used for all my passed herps, Little expensive but I like it. Going to have about 8-10" possible 1' of substrate, not sure if I need it that deep. The southern end of the tank I will have as the hot spot. In the right corner, I will have a handmade den. On the left side a large hiding box. The central part of the cage I will have a basking pond. Roughly 5" in depth. As it goes north, I will have it change into a swimming/hunting pond of about 1' in depth. An idea I think would work, maybe you can tell me otherwise. I would like a small lip around the water, roughly 1.5" or so. Trying to limit the amount of debris that will be thrown into the water =(.

Probably going to use a filter for the water, instead of doing it by hand. Trying to keep it as clean as possible. Use some aquatic plants to oxygenate the water. In the northern left hand corner, have a semi-vegetated area for hiding. To the right have larger rock. Through out the rest of the cage, have limbs of trees and so on for its juv-adult life for arboreal activities.

On the southern wall, I am going to make a hatch door, that will be locked from the outside. Hopefully when its older I can get it a lil more tame it may use it hehe. The lid will also be wood but designed differently. Obviously, I will have large air holes through the whole lid and possible the higher parts of the sides. The bottom and top (length wise) will have a large whole in both. I will cover the holes with chicken wire and that’s where my heat lamps would sit. The middle 4ft of the lid, would be another hatch I could use to access the monitor for handling. I may also make the two other parts hatches, since I doubt it will be easy access getting a hold of the monitor during the first stages...

That’s my basic ideas at the moment. I am yet to buy any of this, but I want a good plan so I know what I am doing. I have roughly 1 year to get the tank done. Although I do have one question, is there something I could do to the wood or certain types of woods I could buy, that would stop the urine stench from leaking through the wood? Well... looking forward to hearing anyone’s thoughts on my project

[Bartman]

WOW..sounds like you really wanna know exactly what your doing before hand..good job on that. For the stench in the wood you might want to go with melamine since its ok for reptiles and is pretty water repelent. Plus when the lizard defecates on the substrate it wont leak right through but will get sucked up in the wood chips or whatever ur using. Than if there is anything that gets through it will sit on the melamine and eventually get soaked up by the substrate which obvisouly will need to be changed probably a bit more often but will save ur tank from an everlasting stench..good luckkw ith this huge project

[BrandonVeenstra]

Alright, I was told by an elder to use a water based varnish? Now would that give some sort of poisoning to the monitor? Or would that be considered safe. And yes.. I have such a project ahead of me, but I want to do it right. When I originally purchased my cal king.. I thought I had it planned out. Well, I found myself at the last moment searching accross town for a mouse, him getting loose for 6 months (thankfully hibernated) and so on. Done amuch better job in the past year with him though =(. I'm currently doing some last minute math and so on. Going to do some more sketches, try some computer work. I want this to be perfect since I hear monitors can be quite the joy to work with. Also, if any breeders of southern ontario read this post, and happen to/know someone who breeds peach-throated monitors, I wouldnt mind just getting some contact info , since I will be in need to purchase one in the next year or so.

[Dragoon]

Hi.
I am also currently building cages for my monitors. They are rudicollis, another Indo like the peachies.

I've heard bad things about melamine. It's heavy, and rots out as soon as some water gets underneath it. Varnish is better than bare wood, but won't last too long with the high humidity that varanids require. I went with twopart epoxy paint myself, but haven't tested it yet, so I can't comment. I do know that it was expensive, and hard to work with. I only used it on the bottoms of the cages, as that is the part that will have dirt. The tops will have varnish. I'll be letting the varnish cure for a while before I add any animals.
Your dimensions sound OK.
The pool idea...hmmmm. One thing I have observed from keeping in the past year is that they prefer to crap in water. Will your filter handle big craps? Would it be worth the trouble? I really doubt it. They need clean water to drink and soak in.
I am going with large water tubs fitted with spigots I can drain into a bucket (and carry to the toilet). The cage will stay clean as long as I keep their tub clean. They don't like to go into a dirty tub. Mine don't crap in the cage, if they can in the water tub. This is a big bonus, I'm finding.
I am also raising my tub up high off the substrate (dirt and leaves) since I already know they will be in and out all day, and track all kinds of leaves and dirt into the water. I'm making a rack out of 2 by 4s to hold the water tub. They are like monkeys, they will be able to get in it no matter how high I put it.
Your plants won't last a week. Live or fake. Sorry.

Not too much captive breeding of varanids is going on in Canada at all, much less peachies. Beware of people telling you they have CB. Look at the US ads, they ALL say CB, its a total joke. Ask for pictures of the parents, the eggs, and MOST importantly, the eggs HATCHING. That is the only way you will avoid being ripped off and laughed at when you tell other herpers you have a CB peachie (or any varanid, for that matter). The ones with any varanid knowledge, anyway. Anybody can make up stories over the Internet. People without pictures as proof are seen as con artists. lol.
That said, since WC peachies are all you'll find, get a real young one. No, no, not so it can 'get to know you', that is a crock, but so it has the least amount of bad experiences in its life.
Monitors are smart, and lovely animals. I have two adult males that were WC as adults (insane animals), and they have learned to trust me and be nice to me. One of them is even going to a father soon. (I hope.)
Good luck. D.
<img src ="http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/502/596anaclutch1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/502/596warup1.jpg">

[sapphire_moon]

That last pic is SO cute!

[BrandonVeenstra]

Yea, I just thought the water idea would work out. And about the craps in water and filter handling it. I was also wondering about that. Since I do need a semi-large filter, big enough to filter out the water, but small enough that the monitor wont squeeze through. I'm also going to be looking for private owners of peach-throated monitors because I am looking for a CB one. Hopefully this will work out. I was also thinking, if I put some sort of a substrate toward the bottom of the pond, I could have aquatic plants which would in return absorb the crap. Would that work or no?

[Steeve B]

Jobiensis are and have been captive bred in Canada, I sometime offer them to good friends, however aim selective of whom gets my babies, I consider having a cb varanids a privilege that need to be deserved. So far I haven’t seen many peoples to whom I who’d give my babies, most peoples iv encounter back stabbed me or slandered me without cause.
Rgds
Ps. id be happy to help you just pm me!

[V.hb]

Brandon, any help offered by goon is great, since she really HAS bred monitors.

[BrandonVeenstra]

Yea, he seems like he knows his stuff. I'm hoping hes able to help me with my quest of raising some great varanids=D

[asphyxia]

"Brandon, any help offered by steve is a gift... hes helped me so much with advice and ideas, the overall quality of all of my varanids lives have improved drastically."

My thoughts exactly, V.hb.

Steveis also a great guy in my books.

Sinceraly
Brian

[V.hb]

Brandon skimming over your post again, I have to tell ya, dont bother with repti-bark. its crap! costs way to much, and will be as useless as newsprint for your monitor. a layer of outdoor dirt with a patch of leaf litter on the top of it would suit your peachie much better than repti-bark.

[BrandonVeenstra]

Alright, Sounds like a plan then. I'm far from going into the substrate deal right now. Probably pick up some wood within this month. School starts up in... 10 hours or so, so my time becomes limited again.

[Wrath]

Are you going to put this enclosure in your house??? Or is it going to go outside? Wow, it sounds really cool. Good luck.