Quince Monitor Questions

I have a baby Quince Monitor. He is housed in a 90 gallon aquarium with plexi top for now. He has about 6 inches of dirt with another 2 inches of reptibark to try and keep the mud down. He is always going in and out of the water and making a muddy mess. He has a small cat litter type pan for his pool. There are several branches for climbing as well as plants. He has a variety of lighting/heating lamps, all mounted on 1 long bar as well. This is all a work in progress as I am having a hard time keeping the temps consistantly 85-90 throughout the tank. Humidity stays around 70%. He has a basking area of about 120 too.

It has been about 20 years since I have owned and maintained a large monitor and had to worry about diet. I think at that point it was mice and rats for the big guys (Blackthroat, Black Roughneck and a Savana). He really doesnt want to seem to eat. However he is shedding and doesnt look like he is losing weight though. Today he did take some mushed mix (pinkie, dubia, egg yolk and a tsp. of canned cat food all put in the blender) off of a fork, but he will not eat it out of the bowl. I never thought he would go for the fork, I just wanted him to smell it. He is going back and forth around the tank smelling with his tongue but will not stop at the dish. I was thinking about trying some turkey too, is that raw or cooked? I am going away for 5 days and need to have things prepared for the babysitter to give him. I can only imagine asking my Mother to stick the roaches in the blender .

I am also wondering how quickly these guys grow? If I need to start on his permanent enclosure this summer I will do that. I was just hoping to get 2 years out of the 90, maybe I am unrealistic .

Any constuctive suggestions would be welcomed.

The only thing I can see if that the basking spot be raised a good 15-20 degrees and the humidity should be around 75-80%.

My melinus eat a heavily varied diet but they LOVE mice. They also love raw shrimp chopped up. I think that may be the issue is what's being offered to them is unnatural. Take a whole pinky put some egg yolk on it, set it on a piece of wood and walk away. Melinus are shy and mine almost never eat when I am around and yes will not eat from a bowl. It's to unnatural for them I think. Being an indo species they need to eat everyday to even as adults.

They also go quick when care for properly and you'll be lucky if a 90 gallon lasts 6 months let alone two years. Definitley start planning for a larger enclosure now.

Originally Posted by TailsWithScales

The only thing I can see if that the basking spot be raised a good 15-20 degrees and the humidity should be around 75-80%.

My melinus eat a heavily varied diet but they LOVE mice. They also love raw shrimp chopped up. I think that may be the issue is what's being offered to them is unnatural. Take a whole pinky put some egg yolk on it, set it on a piece of wood and walk away. Melinus are shy and mine almost never eat when I am around and yes will not eat from a bowl. It's to unnatural for them I think. Being an indo species they need to eat everyday to even as adults.

They also go quick when care for properly and you'll be lucky if a 90 gallon lasts 6 months let alone two years. Definitley start planning for a larger enclosure now.

Thank you very much Christine. He just came out from a 24 hour period of being buried so I will try with the shrimp tonight. We have tried the pinkie with egg with no luck. I think I get paranoid with leaving things in the tank to long with such a warm environment. I do understand that they are scavengers but I still worry about bacteria.

Guess I know what I am doing this summer, building a new home,lol. I knew I would need to do it but was just hoping to put it off a bit.

Thanks again!

Shell would you mind posting some pics of you Melinus and his enclosure? I am thinking about picking one up and like to see what others are doing.

Originally Posted by TailsWithScales

My melinus eat a heavily varied diet but they LOVE mice. w.

We are finally back onto the F/T pinkie mice! He gave me a hard time for a while but has come around. No more pinkies in the blender, if my hubby only knew that one . He is also eating adult dubias, for some reason he wont eat the sub adult, but the adult males he loves.

Now my question is how much is to much? Is it better to give little portions, or stuff them full. It was posted about Indo's needing to eat every day, but how much would be a good ammount? He is about 15" at this point, of course more than 1/2 of that is tail. I also need to go and get pinkies this weekend, is there a guideline to the size you feed. For example with dragons and chameleons I only feed smaller than inbetween their eyes.

you can feed quince monitors madagascan hissing cockroaches, mice, chicks, eggs, frozen silversides(from a petstore that specializes in fish), jumbo krill(also from a fish petstore), nightcrawlers, goliath horn worms, large superworms, and silkworms. i dont agree with givin monitors or tegus meat like ground turkey or fish slices its better to give whole prey items so it has bones and all the other nutrients

i love quinceies

u will also need a 6x4x8 as an adult 4ft long