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Monitor bedding

mxracer4life

mxracer4life

"Daniel Boone"
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Hey guys! How's it going? I have me about a 14'' savannah monitor that I have in a 55gal right now. I have had top soil as the substrate ever since I got her. I heard they like to burrow a lot, dig etc, but she never does. I am moving her into her permanent 6ft x 6ft x 3ft enclosure and was wondering if I should stick with top soil. The cage is built out of mdf, with a plexiglass front and has lenolium for the floor and half the walls, mainly for moisture, spills and cleaning etc. What works the best? Can I mix top soil and aspen?
 
I just wanted to add that I have been trying to mix up her diet as much as possbile. Here is my list: Fuzzies, goldfish, meal worms, wax worms, grasshoppers, crickets, egg whites, canned monitor food, feeder cochroaches and turkey. I only feed goldfish, canned food, meal worms occasionally to mix it up, but she is never eating the same thing all the time. I also wanted to know if she could eat store bought earth worms/night crawlers, but just a thought. thanks
 
6x6 is a huge enclosure for a 14" savannah monitor. Aside from the problems of heating something that size, the other drawback is that live feeders have plenty of room to disappear. You'll want to keep an eye on your monitor for awhile to make sure it is getting enough (and periodically search for and remove the strays). My other question about the enclosure pertains to ventilation. (this will impact your choice of substrate). is it an open, or screened, top? venting in sides (how much)? something else?
 
i use normal yard dirt for my substrate and it works very well.my savannah is 24-26in and is in a 6x3x3.i would say for a adult savannah a 8x4x4 cage is big enough for one adult.as for feeding i wouldnt feed gold fish at all they are full of parasites even the feeder gold fish are to.if you want to feed fish get some parasite free catfish and cut it up in chuncks they love that.you can buy night crawlers at a bait store or some where like that and feed them if thats what your talking about.but yeah are you useing a screen top or anything like that if so put tinfoil over it and it will keep your temps and humsity up better.just some stuff to think about.
 
Well, for right now all I have is that 55gal aquarium and it is getting too small for her very quickly. I thought about splitting the 6x3x3 cage in half for right now, so she wouldn't be overwhelmed. It is made out of all plexiglass right now, but I am rebuilding it out of MDF, with half the top screened/half not and a plexi front. I am installing lenolium or something inside the cage to keep MDF from getting wet/dirty. I don't feed her goldfish very often, actually only two times since I have had her, but it is nice to know that I shouldn', cause I didn't know that. I didn't know about worms/nightcrawlers. Right now my temps in the 55gal are 72 at one end and the other 125 degrees. The basking area has plenty to climb on or under to change the temp for her. I keep a large tub in there for her, helping to keep my humidity around 55%. Thanks for the advise. Jeremy
 
if it is 14in right now by the time yo get the 6x3x3 cage done he will be ready to go into it with out any problems.i out my savannah in a 5x3x3 when he was only 16-18in and now he is in a 6x3x3 and he is 26in maybe around 30in.i will put him in a 8x4x4 cage when he gets full grown.your cool side at 72 is fine but 125 is way to hot for the warm side.the warm side should be 80-85 and the basking needs to be 135-150.are you using a temp gun to check the basking surface temps?if not you need to get one asap because digital thermometers wont read them like a temp gun will.i dont think there is a need to split the 6x3x3 in half its not realy that big of cage if you think about it now if you had a 8x4x4 you could split it to make a smaller cage.if you have any more questions or problems post it or you can email me at [email protected] if you want to i would be glade to hep you out.
 
Well, I apologize I meant to say that my temps rangs from 72 -120 (125). I do not have a temp gun, for right now all I have is a digital temp gauge on each side of the tank. I am getting one as soon as I get this cage done. I have the cool side at 72, warm side usually around 78-80 then a little farther the temps get as high as 125. I have great humidity in the room, stays constant around 55-60% and the top soil sure helps. Actually, I might go ahead and make the enclosure 12x8x4, but I would definately have to split that up for now. gotta go for now
 
12x8x4 thats really big for one savannah.if you had a 1.1 pair wanted to breed them that would work but for one thats a little much.not to say thatsa bad thing if you can provide a cage that size and be able to heat it properly than go for it.
 
Sorry it took me so long to post, but what I have is 2 bedrooms for my pets etc. The room my savannah is in is about 16x14. I knew when I purchased the monitor that it would be getting around 4ft. To me, if I go ahead and pretty much double the size of the enclosure she will have plenty of space as an adult. I have only thought about doing this, its not done yet, lol. But if you think about it, a 4ft lizard only having a 12ft enclosure doesn't allow that much room. I am very much considering it though. Why would that be too big? I say if you have the time, money and space make it as big as possible. Lets just say I was going to build this, should I only make it about 4ft tall?
 
4 feet tall is too high. The most you would need would be about 3 feet. But remeber to take into account the depth of the substrate. Say for example you have 2 feet of substrate, then a 5 foot tall cage would work well. That takes into account bot the space above and the space needed for the dirt.
I would say a cage that is 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 3 feet tall would be the perfect size for an adult sav.
 
I have decided for right now that I am just going to finish my 8x4x4 cage for now. Maybe next year I will go ahead and add some on to it but for now that will be ok. I am making it 4ft tall and was only going to put a foot of dirt in there. I have noticed that my monitor doesn't burrow any, is this something they do more when they are older? There is a local guy here that used to handle monitors and large lizards, he keeps telling me to use reptile carpet, not dirt. I have been using dirt since I got her. Now, I know it is ok to feed the monitor worms/nightcrawlers but is it ok to burry them so they keep the soil loose/clean?
 
the worms will burry them selves if you put them in there.they will help keep the dirt clean and everything and it also give your monitor exercise when he/she goes and digs them up when hungry.some monitors will burrow and some wont it just denends on the monitor.also he/she might not like that dirt try some other kind remember you have to read your monitor and see what it wants and needs.if you don't see it digging or anything its telling you to change it to something else.try calling a landscaping business and tell them its for you monitor and they need something that will hold a burrow good and have them dump some off at your house.
 
Ok, I'll try that. I never thought of the whole worm idea, that would help keep the soil loose etc. Thanks for the advice, later
 
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