just bought my first monitor....

as my never ending reptile addicition continues ive manged to snag a nile monitor who couldnt be more then a foot or so. I was discouraged in the fact that i read this wasnt a good starter monitor and they were quite nasty. I dont know about the first one but the second one is far from the truth, this guy is great from what i can tell, and i managed to get him for 70. In the pet store they said he ate a scorpion but the clerk pulled it out before he ate the stinger. from what they said there seemed to be no problem as it happened a week ago. He is currently housed in a ten gallo tank (Temporary, i know how big this thing will get.) with a hide box he LOVES and a heat pad under neath the tank and a 60 wat black lite bulb on to for basking needs subtrate is an "add water and you have subtrate" type. I was told he eats crickets and when i put them in the cage he lunged but couldnt catch them, yet i hand fed him one and then he ate another dead one i dropped in the cage (I use live crickets but i heard these guys are garbage disposals). Payday has yet to come so pinkies will have to wait. any advice for past present or future is greatly appreciated. thank you