Updated pics of all my guys and girls

[Steven.]

Hello all. Just decided to take some pictures of all my lizards in my beautiful florida wheather..

Sunshine is my quince monitor. Shes been doing wonderful. Still very shy and timid but once you get her in your hand she KINDA mellows out lol. This is a picture of her first shed. You compare her bright beautiful baby skin (lower half) to her growing up skin (top half). She an awesome eater. Today she downed 2 pinkies and 4 chicken hearts.

This is her enclosure for now. It stays outside, rain or shine. As you can see, it was raining. But the way it works in florida is it rains for 5-10 minutes and then the sun comes out again and brings temps back up to 95-100F. This goes on for the whole afternoon.

This pictures shows draco and rango getting some good old natural sunlight.

I call this " I wonder how cold the pool is" lol

And my pride and joy. This taming method has worked wonders for me. It reduced the timidness and how quickly they calm down in your hand. This is the first time he's in there.

Kahno's enclosure.

[size=large]Thank you all for the great advise you've given me to help me this far.. And please KEEP IT COMING!!! lol.[/size]

 

[ReptileGuy]

I LOVE the Quince monitor. Please post more pics! Also, what taming method are you using for Kahnoah? I looking to try a handful of them and see which works best for Steve.

 

[Steven.]

I LOVE the Quince monitor. Please post more pics! Also, what taming method are you using for Kahnoah? I looking to try a handful of them and see which works best for Steve.

I use the "shirt in the cage method" for kahnoah. I used it on blue and in 1 week of having him, he was sleeping on me..=(

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Your monitor needs DEEP substrate and a much better setup overall to be honest.

 

[Steven.]

Re: RE: Updated pics of all my guys and girls

Your monitor needs DEEP substrate and a much better setup overall to be honest.

I know this. We are waiting until she gets a little more calm before moving her into a permanent enclosure

sent from my phone to your eyes

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

arent you afraid of the glass tank overheating in the sun??? glass magnifies with the sun and can cook you lizard! how does he have a proper basking spot??? seems to be very incorrect housing in more ways than one.

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Why would you wait until she gets calm to move her into a suitable enclosure? You're honestly asking for problems with that approach. That setup is inadequate and monitors, especially species such as Quince's, don't handle that well.

 

[Steven.]

So you think it would be better putting her in a bigger cage now?.. Wouldn't she get even more aggressive and timid?...

sent from my phone to your eyes

---

arent you afraid of the glass tank overheating in the sun??? glass magnifies with the sun and can cook you lizard! how does he have a proper basking spot??? seems to be very incorrect housing in more ways than one.

She eats and poops everyday. The bottom of the tank stays in the low 90s.. In the morning we pull the top off and she gets on the top branch and bask... Trust me that top branch get well past 110 during the day without the rain... I don't think a basking spot is a problem. She goes in the eco earth or in the log when she's scared or needs to cool off. Inside the log has a temp of mid 80s and the ecoearth is always soaked..

sent from my phone to your eyes

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Monitors need basking spots well into the 120-130's and DEEP substrate that she can fully create a burrow and tunnels in. So you think that having a less timid/agressive monitor is more important than having a HEALTHY and HAPPY monitor? There is reasons why there are guidelines/caresheets/and husbandry rules when it comes to having pets, especially monitors. You miss one detail and it drastically hinders them. They dont show stress/sickness/pain easily until you walk out one day and have a dead monitor. Show this on one of the monitor forums and you'd get ripped to shreds.

---

Also even low 90's isnt cool enough for a cool spot. If it had the proper substrate it could burrow down into a cool burrow, but you dont have that. I would strongly suggest you re-evaluate your setup and take peoples suggestions.

 

[Steven.]

Re: RE: Updated pics of all my guys and girls

Monitors need basking spots well into the 120-130's and DEEP substrate that she can fully create a burrow and tunnels in. So you think that having a less timid/agressive monitor is more important than having a HEALTHY and HAPPY monitor? There is reasons why there are guidelines/caresheets/and husbandry rules when it comes to having pets, especially monitors. You miss one detail and it drastically hinders them. They dont show stress/sickness/pain easily until you walk out one day and have a dead monitor. Show this on one of the monitor forums and you'd get ripped to shreds.

---

Also even low 90's isnt cool enough for a cool spot. If it had the proper substrate it could burrow down into a cool burrow, but you dont have that. I would strongly suggest you re-evaluate your setup and take peoples suggestions.

---

I never said Im not taking anyone suggestions. That's why i post here. To get expert advise. If i give her more substrate. She won't eat for days. Im pretty sure you know how shy these monitors are. She'll die from starvation if i give her more places to hide. I like when i she out and about when everyone is around her cage. That way she sees there's no harm where she's at. I've seen how much difference her temper has become. When she's better.. She'll get a permanent enclosure in side the house where everyone can enjoy her...

sent from my phone to your eyes

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Your thinking is flawed here. Shy species need places to hide so that they don't stress themselves to dealth. Monitors are very different than tegus, often them becoming "tamer" isnt because they are actually tame but because they are so stressed and scared they don't know what else to do. Healthy monitors will flea from you and hide. Being HEALTHY is whats important. Not how social she is around you and your friends. You can work on taming her once she is being properly housed. That way you know that her tolerating your handling is her getting used to you, not her being sick or weak from improper husbandry. This is especially important for baby monitors! Its their natural defense to hide and burrow, so its cruel to purposely deprive her of that so you can see her. She will not starve if you give her substrate depth, she will bury herself to feel comfortable and when shes ready to eat, she will come out. They will not starve themselves IF kept properly. Tegus bury themselves too, but you dont see them starving to death because they hide. If you give her the proper amount of substrate and provide a basking spot with the proper temperatures, I bet you she would come out to eat, however without those 2 very important things, your setting her and YOU up to fail. I can't stress this enough, you REALLY need to re-think your actions here before you end up with a sick and dead monitor.

 

[Steven.]

Re: RE: Updated pics of all my guys and girls

Your thinking is flawed here. Shy species need places to hide so that they don't stress themselves to dealth. Monitors are very different than tegus, often them becoming "tamer" isnt because they are actually tame but because they are so stressed and scared they don't know what else to do. Healthy monitors will flea from you and hide. Being HEALTHY is whats important. Not how social she is around you and your friends. You can work on taming her once she is being properly housed. That way you know that her tolerating your handling is her getting used to you, not her being sick or weak from improper husbandry. This is especially important for baby monitors! Its their natural defense to hide and burrow, so its cruel to purposely deprive her of that so you can see her. She will not starve if you give her substrate depth, she will bury herself to feel comfortable and when shes ready to eat, she will come out. They will not starve themselves IF kept properly. Tegus bury themselves too, but you dont see them starving to death because they hide. If you give her the proper amount of substrate and provide a basking spot with the proper temperatures, I bet you she would come out to eat, however without those 2 very important things, your setting her and YOU up to fail. I can't stress this enough, you REALLY need to re-think your actions here before you end up with a sick and dead monitor.

This i did not know. Thank you sir for the advise. The only issue is how to give her a basking spot outside?..

sent from my phone to your eyes

 

[TegusRawsome80]

I highly recommend putting her inside in a more controlled environment. However, since I'm almost sure you'll ignore this advice, you can put rocks down which will get hot.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

If hes saying thank you I wouldnt jump to say that he'll ignore it, all we can do is advise and hope.

---

I would bring her inside and set her up in a large enclosure, in something that small it would be impossible to give them the temperature gradient that they need, I dont know how large the one your building is but if its way too big for now, maybe see if you can buy a used medium sized wood cage? wooden cages hold moisture and heat better than glass tanks.

 

[Steven.]

Re: RE: Updated pics of all my guys and girls

I highly recommend putting her inside in a more controlled environment. However, since I'm almost sure you'll ignore this advice, you can put rocks down which will get hot.

You must be one of those experts that give all the learning people advise... Thanks for your help. Like i said before she'll be taken care of. Appreciate the confidence though bro.

sent from my phone to your eyes

---

If hes saying thank you I wouldnt jump to say that he'll ignore it, all we can do is advise and hope.

---

I would bring her inside and set her up in a large enclosure, in something that small it would be impossible to give them the temperature gradient that they need, I dont know how large the one your building is but if its way too big for now, maybe see if you can buy a used medium sized wood cage? wooden cages hold moisture and heat better than glass tanks.

---

I got one of those exo terra cages i use to raise my iguana.. Its a tall cage.. 60x36x60.. I think..

sent from my phone to your eyes

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

An exo-terra wouldn't hold enough substrate. It would be a good idea to do some research on monitor husbandry and especially quince monitors since it seems like you were not prepared to bring her home.

 

[Steven.]

Re: RE: Updated pics of all my guys and girls

An exo-terra wouldn't hold enough substrate. It would be a good idea to do some research on monitor husbandry and especially quince monitors since it seems like you were not prepared to bring her home.

I didn't bring her home. Im a tegu guy. This quince is a family members that got excited when he saw the adults and how tame they were. Now he's got a job and there goes that. It was of course an impulse buy. And i didn't want to sell her so I've decided to keep her and raise her. I've been reading all the care sheet and trying to get as much info as i can. Like i said. Im a newbie to this type of monitor. I've raised a black throat for 20 years and couple iguanas for as long as i can remember.. But never something that so timid and shy. Again I POST HERE CAUSE I NEED ADVISE AND HELP.

sent from my phone to your eyes

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Okay. Basic setup that in my opinion would work for now. You want a wooden cage that will hold humidity well with a ton of areas for her to hide. For substrate you should be looking at at least 12-18 inches(while she's small, more when bigger) of dirt/sand that will hold a burrow. She will need at least one basking spot that will cover her entire body excluding tail. This basking spot should achieve temps of about 120. Yes, 120. They need hot basking spots. Some people provide multiple at different temps and areas but you can keep it simpler for sure. Make sure she has a COOL cool side, in my opinion somewhere around 75, 80 absolute max. From the little I know about that particular species, I believe they like to climb so a relatively tall cage with lots of branches and hollowed out logs would be good. Most importantly, they are VERY shy so it is best to leave her alone almost completely.

 

[Steven.]

Ok. So ill build a wood cage that's 5x3x5. Paint it in di-lok. Use a halogen for basking. Ecoearth for substrate and lots and lots of branches. Ill use a cat litter box for water and 2-3 hides throughout the enclosure. Sound good?..

sent from my phone to your eyes

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Setup sounds good. To be honest with you it will need a bigger cage once adult but that setup sounds great. Only a couple of changes. One is possibly some more hides, preferably some of those hollowed out logs laid in a vertical/sideways position so that they can hide in that. Just give it a ton of options. The only other suggestion I have is not ecoearth. Some kind of silty dirt. Like sandy dirt. A lot of monitor keepers go out and find it near them and just dig a ton of it up and bring to their houses. I would suggest this route.