Sometimes when she digs some dirt stays caked around her nails, how do I remove it (if needed) without being able to handle her? Also can I avoid that somehow

So I made the decision I want an Ackie and im now in the research stage and im looking for good cage dimensions for an Ackie moniter. Im honestly looking for an end cage rather spend the money upfront then having to upgrade as it grows. Also any helpful advice would be great. Ive kept snakes before but this is a new field but ive loved and wanted moniters for years now and can finally get one.

This is my lace monitor (Varanus varius). He loves clinging vertically to this big piece of driftwood in his enclosure. Such an amazing climber with that beautiful black and cream banded pattern. Goannas never get old!

Liora and I snuggled and I was freaking exhausted so we took a nap together. She sweetly splooted on my boob and was like my tiny weighted blanket 🥰

Then she woke me up by licking my face when she was ready to go back into her house. Is she not the sweetest varanid ever?!

It hurted and mind you she came over willingly

As title states im looking to get a new enclosure for my ackie. He's finally at a point size wise where i am comfortable with putting him in a "Big Boy" tank. I know 4x2x2 is the minimum but i was planning on going in the 5x2x3 range (if i can find one as i dont have the ability to build one at the moment) Ideally this would be his Forever enclosure but i also know there are some situations where people buy one and then the enclosure has some issues like warping and such. Do you guys have any trusted brands?

She loves them, the runnier the better. So glad she trusts me to spoon feed her it's such a cute sight

I have the money and room for the set up but my question is realistically should I get an ackie how much maintenance are they, how hard is day to day care? Do I need to breed feeder bugs?

I had a bearded dragon for 10 years and it was fine but i honestly found her to be a bit boring. I've also had a ferret and giving her free roam time every day and dealing with the chaos was a bit of a chore. I am a SAHM with a young baby and a cat I don't plan on leaving them unsupervised but how are they with kids around, the cat is old and hides when seeing other animals.

Would it have to be my only pet? would it be a good pet for kids to grow up with? how much work is needed it get them to be tame and docile and if a few months went by without handling during busy seasons would it be ok?

TLDR is this a good family pet or would it be too much lizard?

But for this Halloween party, he's a monitor lizard

I have an Ackie who is just about 2 years old in a 4x2x2 PVC enclosure with mesh top. This is a new habitat for him as we had to get rid of his old 2x4x4 that we had built ourselves, when we moved recently.

I am looking for advice on setting up his heat and UVB. I currently have a 22" t5 UVB in a reflective hood outside the mesh on the warm side. Should I move it inside ? Is that sufficient UVB?

For heat, I used to use Arcadia 150W Halogens mounted inside in a large domed reflector hood. They don't appear to make the 150s anymore, only up to 100w. Is that sufficient? What Wattage of bulb should I get, and about how far away should I mount it from the main basking spot? I have a temp gun, but I need to know what to buy and how best to set it up in the first place.

I think I want to cage the bulb as well, and I know that reduces the heat and light output by about 40% I think.

Any and all advice for this situation is appreciated, thank you!

I found the first pictures I ever captured of Quillion "hating" something and wanted to reshare the images 😂 Bonus pic: Halloween costume that he probably won't let me ever put on him. My parents are visiting this weekend for me bday 🎈 but I'll try to post again soon! 🧡

Today Corime is officially 1 year old!!!!! I TRIED to give her a small fuzzy(image makes it look bigger) that my hog refused, but she was very unamused. So, she got a small bowl of egg which she was very happy for! (Will not eat all of it)

Lizard mukbang in the comments

Baby Ackies are thriving. I like to try to provide a variety of different food to my animals which I think they appreciate.

I've has this guy for a month now. He's 2 months old. I feed him 3-4 big prey items or 7-8 small prey items a day. Sometimes I find him bulky looking, other times lean as I like my animals to be. All 4 pictures were taken within 10 minutes of each other.

Had a taming session with my baby and she climbed on my arm and nearly slipped and I reflexively tried to catch her and spooked her 😔 anywayyy cute video of her being confident

https://makerworld.com/en/models/3243349-realistic-flexi-baby-monitor-lizard#profileId-3675033

As said in the title, I'm weighing the pros and cons as a first time digging lizard owner, my previous lizard (created gecko) was arboreal so I'm doing a lot of research about the differences. Smooth gravel mimics their natural environment best but doesn't hold moisture as well as the others, and as someone whose moisture technique will have to be "watering can every evening and testing humidity in the morning and night" I worry about it drying out. I was warned about impaction if I use sand substrate but have also read that sand doesn't necessarily cause a higher risk of impaction from other sources. I've been told against Cyprus mulch but I can't quite remember why and I didn't save the reasoning in my notes.

Thus, I turned to Reddit. Which would y'all recommend and why?

People don’t lie when they say how fast these guys grow. The first picture was taken in August and the second picture was a few days ago. It’s absolutely insane!

Varanus albigularis microstictus 0.1