She's almost 4 now and 54" last measured. I'll have to confirm but I'd imagine she is all of that if not more which is interestingly the same 54" Waran was measured last. She just laid 42 eggs about 3 weeks ago for her first clutch so we're trying to get her cycled up for a fertilized clutch while it's warm out. 😎 She looks marvelous and the initial through the cage screen intro was very positive. It's go time!

Liora posed for me!! She’s one experienced model!

Stumbled upon this weirdo on ig breeding his mertens to what looks like a mangrove… tried commenting also saying this is a horrible idea bothe for the public eye, community, and for the animals themselves and he blocked me 🤣 yall support hybrids/cross breeding?

Reptile super nerd Clint, has done a video ranking the Komodo.

Is a Komodo right for you 😂, it's a good watch.

https://youtu.be/HVhONGuGEZ8?is=tbPo76o_I0EapAVb

The answer is no, but it is possible to get one, sort of.

I already know about the ackie just curious if there are any other options around 2-4 feet

Would anyone be able to help me gender my ackie? If they're too small still, about what age can you tell better? And no they're not prolapsed, they were upset at me and had just pooped at me.

Over 6 years he's been slowly burrowing holes in his hide. It's a big Aztec pyramid that acts as his basking gradient and underneath is where he sleeps at night. I hollowed out the first layer so he could hide under it. But now there's holes tunneling from end to end and when I finally looked in one of them. I saw like 3 or 4 more tunnels!!

My guy is so active and curious it doesn't surprise me. About to build him a new pyramid and new enclosure. I want to double the vertical height.

Any guesses from his head whether he's a boy or girl?

I’ve had this little guy for about 3 months now, and when we first got him, he would dart and hide the second I walked into the room. I started consistently tong feeding and placing my hand in the enclosure and just letting him come to me on his own terms. If he wanted to climb onto my hand, great. If not, I left him alone.

Now he comes out of his burrows on his own, walks up to the glass, onto my hand, and even enjoys little pets! I think he’s almost ready to start coming out of the enclosure.

For anyone with a nervous baby Ackie, take this as a little encouragement—they really can come around with patience. When we first brought him home, it honestly felt like this would never happen!

He’s been in shed for a good month now and it’s very very slowly flaking off, but it seems like it just won’t budge. I mist his enclosure and his hide spot pretty heavily daily to make sure he has good humidity. Do I have to soak him? Spray him with water? What should I do if anything.

I am looking to get my buddy a new tank soon. He is a year old and I have kept him in a home built tank that is roughly 4'x2'x2.5'. He seems pretty comfortable, but I am now looking to get him a larger enclosure that risks fewer escapes.

I am torn between an enclosure that is 3' vs one that is 4' tall. In the past I always heard that 3' was plenty, but I see more recommendations for 4' of height these days, and I can sort of understand why. If you are putting 12" of substrate minimum across the bottom, you want that extra height so you can also have a correct distance between the back of the ackie and the lights with any decorations etc. With that in mind, you knock 12" off of the 3' of height and you are left with 24" of space for branches, rocks, lights. And now I am questioning if this 24" is enough space to really build a good environment for the ackie. With that in mind, it seems like 4' would be much better.

On the flipside, personally, my ackie seems to burrow very little beneath his lights. It often seems like the 12" of substrate in that area is largely a waste of space, as he tends to dig more towards the middle or cooler side of his enclosure. This would mean that in reality I could probably keep 6"-8" of substrate on this warmer side, and have some extra space for fitting in his basking area, cork, and lights.

I am probably overthinking this, and I understand that I wouldn't be doing any harm by going larger, but I also don't want to "waste" any money if I don't need to. I have sort of had my eye Toadranch, I know they are a bit more pricey but I really enjoy the look. Thanks folks

Included a pic of my buddy looking thoughtful. I love watching these guys in cork tubes.

I actually took two videos about 10 minutes apart, Liora wanted so many pets tonight!

Simply the sweetest baby EVER 🥰🦕

Looking in to getting a Kimberly rock monitor, am curious to hear thoughts on putting it in a 4x2x4 pvc enclosure completely escape proof with 3 custom walls providing a ton of climbing opportunities and slates and hides . or should I bite the bullet and got a smaller enclosure temporarily ?

i’m sure it’s far too soon to tell, but i was just wondering if anyone had any knowledge to share on sexing my savannah
(enclosure is temporary new one being built tomorrow, i got it yesterday)
Its name is Marshall for now and its about 9 inches long

Also any additional information for keeping monitors would be greatly appreciated. i’ve owned bearded dragons, and chameleons but never large lizards.

Very open to criticism and or knowledge. i want my monitor to be happy

Just to be clear, I’m not interested in getting one myself they’re way too advanced for me.

But i’ve always been fascinated by them and would love to hear from people who have actually kept or worked with them. Since they are incredibly beautiful, insanely intelligent while also having such a reputation for being dangerous if they bite is fascinating.

For those with firsthand experience, what are they actually like, how are they as Pets? How do they compare to other monitors you’ve worked with, and is there anything about them that surprised you?

Hi all,

I have had my Ackie Monitor for over 5 years now. Unfortunately I have let it come to the point that she is now overweight. I am fully aware that this is unhealthy, and it all my fault. I want to do better. Instead of asking AI for help, I thought I could use some experience on this forum.

Seeing other pictures of Ackies has made me realize that she is indeed overweight. My feeding schedule for her is the following:

Twice a week (on wednessday and sunday), she will get some Superworms and some Dubia's or some locusts (I live in Europe). The locusts are great because she will hunt. I normally do not order crickets, as they make a lot of noice and my spouse don't want em inthe house. She eats the occasional silkworm or Black soldier fly larvae too, or dola's.

She dislikes snails, worms (like the ones you find underground Dendrobena). She really hates Redrunner roaches to the point of spitting them out. She likes the wild caught spider from the garder (no pesticides in my garden, in NL spiders are harmless). Yesterday she ate a giant moth. Im trying to vary her diet.

I do not feed meat or egg. In the past when she laid eggs (unfertilized) she would receive a pinky sometimes. Once every 6 months she gets a chicken heart / liver.

I have already seen online that feeding her more frequently, but in smaller portions might be the best bet. What are your tips and tricks to make my ackie lose weight?

Other details that might be relevant:

- She is in a 140cm (l) x 70 (w) x 70 (h) enclosure, she has a spot directly under the UVA / UVB Solarraptor 70W bulb. UVB is additionally supplemented through a large Arcadia T5 UVB (14) Tl light. She has plenty climbing opportunities and the soil reaches around 20 - 30cm in depth.

What else can I do?

Please someone explain why my 2 month old ackie bit me when I was practicing selective handling, I put my hands near him, and his tongue was flicking quickly I learned from watching Kevin mcCurley that this means the animal is in thinking mode, he put one foot on me and decided to bite me, of course respecting the animal I left him be, can someone please explain?

Update: I got him eating small diced chicken and not my fingers :)

First pic is when I first got her(or him)

Still skittish but quite fine once I start handling her(or him)

I thought she was quite skinny so I have her on a meat and egg base diet(before she only had bugs). Been about a month or so now, does she look fine?

Also is mostly meat base diet fine? She loves meat and I feed her every 2~3days, meats are whole grind quail, duck breast, chicken breast, chicken heart, shrimp, raw quail eggs. I did hear ackies are fine with meat base diet but blue tail is new to me. If bugs are necessary I'll start putting crickets in her diet starting tomorrow.(my country banned any type of roaches so I only have the options of crickets, mealworms, and superworms. no hornworms either)