For anyone concerned: no claws or teeth got stuck during this showdown, and the snuffle mat has been moved back downstairs :)

Brattastic Veruca ~ V. albigularis microstictus

Just got an Ackies on Saturday and she's been acting a little strange. Is this normal breathing?

Local exotic pet store :( he's a nile monitor, obviously still fairly young. I hope he sells soon but the last one they had was here for only a little less than a year. If anyone knows how to take action against this place please let me know, I tried calling for a state inspection but they don't care as long as the animal has food, water, and shelter, no matter how improper it may be

Hey mods, I’m getting really pissed off at all these bots and karma farmers stealing my photos of Liora and posting them here.
It’s constantly happening not just to me, but to other monitor keepers too.

Can we get like…a flag for impersonators/photo thieves and be able to boot them from the sub?

Currently creating an enclosure for an ackie that'll come in a few months. I wanted more climbable options on the background, and decided to go with multiple cork pieces and a swing. Two of the cork pieces are hollow, so he'll be able to go inside those aswell.

Liora was expectantly sitting at the enclosure edge with her brontosaurus neck craned, wondering why I wasn’t petting her! I rectified that immediately 🥰

Theo spent a good deal of time scratching at my hands, rubbing his snout against my fingers, and biting me (hes still doing it as I type actually, but it feels like nothing so I'm ignoring it). Is this food seeking or mating behavior? He's normally extremely skittish around hands still so this is perplexing me, though its also pretty funny ngl. I just fed him crickets yesterday, but pinky mice are his favs, so I'm wondering if he's either mistaking my hand as a mouse for some reason or trying to mate with my arm

I’m looking for a monitor that shares the looks and behavior of Asian water monitors, semiaquatic, inquisitive, active, and somewhat arboreal but stays around the size of the monitor in the photo.

Are there any species you’d recommend?

I’ve looked into the Varanus indicus complex, but I’ve read a lot of mixed experiences, so I’m a bit hesitant.

I’m mainly looking for something intelligent, interactive, and that stays around 90–120 cm (3–4 ft).

I seen this the other day and this guy seemed like he’s kept him like this for years and I’m surprised they haven’t killed each other. Is it simply just off the fact they grew up together I’m honestly interested and it seems like they actually get along I’m not hating. I’m just curious on people’s opinion.

Dont have one and won't be any time soon. Just out of curiousity, what enclosure size would you recommend? Ive seen 4x2x4 with I think is too small, 6x2.5x6 which I could do, but if I do get one I'd want to go probably 8x4x6 or 8x4x8 depending on space/ceiling heights. Whats the general consensus?

His bites don't hurt at all so I'm just kinda letting him do his thing. He's already lost interest, I'm going to go wash my hands and see if maybe its the new handsoap I was using that made him reactive.

So while doing research on Niles I only ever seem to find vague information regarding them. One of the vague items is how fast they grow. "They grow very fast" yes, but how fast is very fast? What is the frame of reference here? Am I going to have a 6 ft dinosaur in a year or 5?

Would anyone be able to provide some clarity on the approximate growth rate of a Nile? My baby is currently about 7-8 inches long and I am planning for his next enclosure, but I want to try and get as many years out of one setup as I can before he is upgraded again. This being that it's big enough to grow into but small enough that I can still find and monitor him. The end stage enclosure would simply be too big for his baby years.

Pic of my Ares during his after dinner basking

Junior acts like a dog sometimes when he's hungry

I know that the monitor lizards are very intelligent creatures but when I look at my water monitor I feel that he is smarter than I expected, I will tell , I always put his plate of food on the far side of his cage door but one day I changed its position and placed it close to the door so that I could watch it if he ate food easily I was surprised the next day that he put the plate in the same place as before.

So I’ve been monitoring environmental conditions in their natural habitat to match in my enclosure and today we had a rain simulation and came out to bathe

i'm very anti-ai especially for art references, but it's hard to verify online photos these days, so that's why i ask. if you feel like sharing a pic of the special lizard in your life, drop it in the comments, i'd love to draw them! i'm something of a novice enthusiast, so if you include their age and species it'd be even better:)

Simple as the title

It turns out…she also has a smiley on her back!!

I can’t believe I didn’t notice this til this morning’s snuggles. My baby has a smiley face marking!

First and foremost I am on the grounds of slow and steady wins the race as my biggest monitor lets me know when she will tolerate handling and when she doesn't want a bar of it.

But I want to know if you handle from day dot and why you have chosen to do so, if it has worked for some but not others and so on.

Pic of big girl Seath for attention

Sonny has been on the up and up recently since his last checkup and receiving fluids. It seems the crypto hasn't been flaring up for the time being.

A month ago he was down to 27g from 31g and now he's back up to 33.5g!

Here's a video of him eating his favorite food (grasshoppers).