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I'm willing to bet savs in the wild can and do burrow down deeper than three feet considering I found tiny lacertids that savs could eat for lunch with 2-3 foot burrows. I've also seen uromastyx burrows with 5 or more entrances over a 10 square foot area (estimating).
I'm sorry to say this, but.... savs need more food, care, time, and effort, not to mention enclosure space and money input than almost any other easily available reptile in captivity. The sheer amount of the above is too much for me to provide ( as a highschool student, like you) , and probably too much for you, as well.
Good for you for wanting a reptile, but may i suggest...
leopard gecko
bearded dragon
crested gecko
And if you really want a monitor, i would suggest looking into ackies- good lizards, small, but with all of the monitor personality.
I happen to have 2 fancy beardies that I give personal care to everyday. I also have a leopard gecko I've had for 6 years now as well as a wild caught garter snake. I was hoping for a reptile that required more care and would grow larger than 2ft which is why I wanted a savannah monitor. I have the capability of building it's enclosure as well as giving one a great home and plenty of personal care and enrichment.
To prevent wood rot with the 3 ft of dirt in the bottom of the enclosure, would spackel and kilz paint primer work? Or just kilz or just spackel? I know the savannahmonitor.net an example is using a cow trough or a plastic storage bin, but I was hoping to use something that'd protect the wood while allowing the monitor to be Abel to burrow around all of the enclosure since the dirt layer will be 3ft deep I didn't want something that'd restrict the burrowing such as a rounded container like the cow trough. Any ideas on what I can line the wood with that will prevent rot but won't be a plastic storage bin?
I looked up the pond paint and I could get it, I was just hoping for something a little cheaper. Is there any cheaper way to protect the wood? If not I'll get the pond paint to get the job done right.
Is the climate in Arizona that different to some of the parts of Africa these are found in?
Yes. Savs live in the savannas and thrive during the wet season, where humidity may reach 80-90%. Arizona never achieves that sort of humidity, and while some areas of AZ can be moderately humid, as Korbin pointed out (good taste in music by the way, Korbin) Mr. Saturn does not live in Prescott. His information says he is in Glendale, where humidity is often in the single digits. It is in no way a suitable area to keep a sav exposed to the elements.
I'm willing to bet savs in the wild can and do burrow down deeper than three feet considering I found tiny lacertids that savs could eat for lunch with 2-3 foot burrows. I've also seen uromastyx burrows with 5 or more entrances over a 10 square foot area (estimating).
Go as deep as you can ;P
DB's book says that the deepest burrow found was 43 inches deep.
Yes. Savs live in the savannas and thrive during the wet season, where humidity may reach 80-90%. Arizona never achieves that sort of humidity, and while some areas of AZ can be moderately humid, as Korbin pointed out (good taste in music by the way, Korbin) Mr. Saturn does not live in Prescott. His information says he is in Glendale, where humidity is often in the single digits. It is in no way a suitable area to keep a sav exposed to the elements.
Thanks for the reply, it kind of read like a stupid question when I read it back the next day I knew parts of Arizona are hot and dry but it is a big state so I was curious to know if there was areas that had similar conditions or not.
So this cam across my mind the other day, monitors require 60-70% humidity. Would a gardening substrate such as vermiculite be a good substance to mix in the the soil? The purpose is to hold in moisture so would that help with the humidity and moisture for the soil not to collapse?
So this cam across my mind the other day, monitors require 60-70% humidity. Would a gardening substrate such as vermiculite be a good substance to mix in the the soil? The purpose is to hold in moisture so would that help with the humidity and moisture for the soil not to collapse?
No, please don't...
Nothing beats dirt, plain ol dirt.
Nice thing about dirt, it cycles a little, the humidity goes up for a few days when you water it, then goes gradually back down, like nature does, humid days and not so humid days.
These lizards also rub their food into the dirt, and will eat the dirt, so you don't want anything artificial in the dirt.
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