Argus Monitor

Im thinking about getting an argus monitor as my first monitor, is this a wis choice? I was kind of leaning towars ackies at first, but i already have beardies and wanted something a little bit bigger (around the 3 ft range). Im probably going to make a 6X2X2 ft enclosure from melamine.

But my main question is: Ive never fed anything any kind of Mammal as food (rodents), and im kind of uncomfortable on doing it (and so is the rest of the household), so if i got an argus would it be ok to have the bulk of his diet be insects (of all kinds) and ground turkey and maybe the occasional pre killed mouse?

Ye Gods man! Study your animals first!

Ok, now that that's out of the way. An Argus will easily break 4ft. tip to tip, the average length for them is 5 ft. tip to tip. So if you're lookin' for a 3ft. animal an Argus is definitely not for you. In addition to that, yes they need meat. They're big animals, to feed one an appropriate volume of food would require a ridiculous amount of insects. Furthermore they are not naturally insectivores rather they are predatory generalists going for the biggest thing they can get for the size they currently are. A grown Argus will happily take rats and even small rabbits, and needs them. Their systems are built for meat diet with some other stuff rounding it out. Honestly if ANYONE in the house is in the least way uncomfortable with the prospective food for any animal DON'T get it! If you have problems with meat as food then get an ackie, varanus ackantherus(I think I spelled it right). They're one of the dwarf monitors. You can save room and money by getting a smaller cage, they tame well, and are just as interesting as the larger monitors. Heck, if you wanted to keep the large cage you could go with a bredding trio and have fun trying to breed them. 'side they're always more fun to watch as groups since you get to see a lot more of their natural behaviors. Just don't keep two males together. Finally, they can be fed an exclusively insect diet which sounds like it would be ideal for you. Hope this helps,

J

Originally Posted by TheDrew1

Im thinking about getting an argus monitor as my first monitor, is this a wis choice? I was kind of leaning towars ackies at first, but i already have beardies and wanted something a little bit bigger (around the 3 ft range). Im probably going to make a 6X2X2 ft enclosure from melamine.

Argus monitors are hardy, beautiful and impressive, but they are also high strung and have an unnerving intensity and in-your face attitude that makes many people uncomfortable. Many people (myself included) enjoy them for their energy and activity level, but I would not consider an argus a beginner monitor.

Further, male arguses can get BIG! All of my males have gotten to around 5 feet long and about 20 to 25 pounds in weight. That's a lot of monitor. 6x2x2 is too small for one of these critters. The females stay smaller, at about 3 feet and 6 pounds. Also, arguses are digging machines, with arms like Ah-nuld. They can dig through all sorts of stuff (I've had one dig through heavy gauge hardware cloth, seriously!). I would worry that a big argus could dig right through melamine.

One alternative you might want to consider are the desert sand monitors. These are closely related to agruses, but stay smaller and have the sweetest disposition of any monitor I have ever worked with. Still, a 6x2x2 enclosure is smaller than anything I would consider for desert sands. I use an 8x3.5x2 galvanized steel stock tank for mine, and it seems to be working well.

I maintain a website on argus monitors at http://www.pizards.com/hbd/argus.html. Note also the section on caring for arguses at http://www.pizards.com/hbd/tricks.html. My page on desert sand monitors is more rudimentary (I have not had them as long) but can be found here http://www.pizards.com/hbd/flavie.html.

Originally Posted by TheDrew1

But my main question is: Ive never fed anything any kind of Mammal as food (rodents), and im kind of uncomfortable on doing it (and so is the rest of the household), so if i got an argus would it be ok to have the bulk of his diet be insects (of all kinds) and ground turkey and maybe the occasional pre killed mouse?

You'd drive yourself nuts trying this. If you get an argus, your best bet is to buy pre-killed frozen rodents in bulk. You can buy them over the internet these days and have them shipped to your door. I use rodentpro.com, but there are others out there as well. Store them in the freezer, thaw them out in a bucket of hot water to feed them. My monitors love them. If you want a monitor bigger than an ackie, get used to the idea of feeding rodents.

Good luck,

Luke