Inexpensive caging for a baby nile

[SteveJor]

95 quart Rubbermaid tub modified for use as a cage for a baby nile.
Total cost less than $30.

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[dhonaker]

nice

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[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

creative. much like the stock tank I use for a sav, any pics of the monitor?

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[SteveJor]

Here is the little one.

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[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Hes so cute. I wish we could have liazrds over 5' here. A nice would be my next monitor for sure if we could. Either way, congrats and hope he grows big and strong. Hows his temperment?

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[SteveJor]

He is a sweetheart.
I can put my hand down in front of him and he'll crawl up.
Amazingly docile and outgoing even for a hatchling.
I got him from Professional Herpetoculture and I can say that there really is a difference between this one that was CB and handled from the time it came out of the egg and the CH babies I have dealt with in the past. Worth the extra money IMO to get true CB.
I interact with it everday so hopefully it will stay mellow but only time will tell.

	In My Opinon IMO = In My Opinion and IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

[YeaItsSlo]

where are you from in CT?

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[HisssssyFit]

Oh he is just too adorable, we need more pics of him!!

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[SteveJor]

Originally Posted by YeaItsSlo

where are you from in CT?

Seymour.

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[nomadbean]

Very nice setup, make sure he does not get big on you and jump out up and off the light shade, lost a tegu for a couple days once due to that. Love rubbermaid cages..easy to pay for, easy to heat, easy to clean...just can't be beat.
Trina
OMNIherp, LLC

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[JOHN_THE_DON]

The first part said a baby nile is this some kind of lizard or the man eating nile crocodile that grows up and eats famalies for lunch ? hopefully not the latter , as you can see i dont do lizards

josh

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[SteveJor]

The first part said a baby nile is this some kind of lizard or the man eating nile crocodile that grows up and eats famalies for lunch ? hopefully not the latter , as you can see i dont do lizards

It's a nile monitor lizard. These guys feed on nile croc eggs in the wild and are not what you would call one of the "friendly" lizards. Most of these get attitudes bigger than their size as they grow (up to about 5 feet in length so they can get a pretty big attitude LOL).
Tame or trustworthy (really just tolerant of people) nile monitors are few and far between. 99% would just as soon tail whip, scratch, or bite than let you touch them.
Hopefully this one will stay mellow but I am not counting on it.
These are one of the most beautiful monitors you can buy IMO but I think they are more of a look and don't touch type of monitor.
Only time will tell how this one behaves as he grows.
I'm hoping he grows into a large calm animal but I am not going to hold my breath.

	In My Opinon IMO = In My Opinion and IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

[YeaItsSlo]

Originally Posted by SteveJor

Seymour.

new haven here...

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[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

I believe that the more animal meats you feed them the more aggressive they get. I was told that feeding less rodents and chicks increases your chances of a tame monitor. The guys at pro exotics have the same idea also

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[SteveJor]

Originally Posted by Pork Chops N' Corn Bread

I believe that the more animal meats you feed them the more aggressive they get. I was told that feeding less rodents and chicks increases your chances of a tame monitor. The guys at pro exotics have the same idea also

That may work when they are tiny but within a year they are far too large to eat an insect diet and need rodents.
I could supplement with turkey and maybe roaches but they still need a good portion of their diet to consist of rodents.
I'm not sure what else can be fed to a nile.

[Yungair23]

could they be fed bait fish? Like shiners and crawfish and i know bugs like mealworms, roaches and things? I know rodents must be a part but would those others be suitable for half their diet?

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Originally Posted by yungair23

could they be fed bait fish? Like shiners and crawfish and i know bugs like mealworms, roaches and things? I know rodents must be a part but would those others be suitable for half their diet?

"exotic" foods like craw fish are a bad idea. For the most part they are expensiver(I know SP) and are a seasonal item. pro exotics has some good resons about it

[RioBravoReptiles]

Originally Posted by SteveJor

It's a nile monitor lizard. These guys feed on nile croc eggs in the wild and are not what you would call one of the "friendly" lizards. Most of these get attitudes bigger than their size as they grow (up to about 5 feet in length so they can get a pretty big attitude LOL).
Tame or trustworthy (really just tolerant of people) nile monitors are few and far between. 99% would just as soon tail whip, scratch, or bite than let you touch them. Hopefully this one will stay mellow but I am not counting on it. These are one of the most beautiful monitors you can buy IMO but I think they are more of a look and don't touch type of monitor.
Only time will tell how this one behaves as he grows. I'm hoping he grows into a large calm animal but I am not going to hold my breath.

.
I can't add anything to the subject of Nile Monitors or their temperamnet that wasn't said (very well) in the post I quoted above..
.
About feeding them I can offer this.. I raised these back in the 80s and 90s. They are active carnivores and feeding them enough of the types of things they want to eat is a large part of having one that is calm, if not actually tame. But it's a catch-22 that the more they eat the larger they (quickly) become. Anyway, I prepared a diet for my monitors of chicken and turkey necks with just enough iguana diet tossed in to make it stick together (about 25%), not the sweet-treat multi-colored Iguana diet junk, the real stuff. Prepare it by stripping most of the fat from the chicken and turkey necks (these are cheap after Thanksgiving), grind them up in a heavy-duty food processor or an old manual-type grinder (yes, this will ruin your mom's Cuisinart or Osteriser). Thoroughly mix this paste with the iguana diet, if it won't stick together add small amounts of water until it does. Obviously, this mixture is largely pulverised bone but if you want to add vitamins or whatever this is the time to do that as well.
.
Put the equivalent of one or two days feedings in zip-lock freezer bags and freeze them. It keeps for a very long time so you can make a lot of it and store it if you like. For feeding thaw out however many bags you need, cut off one corner and you can just squeeze it out for your lizards. No mess no fuss.
.
I would feed my Nile monitors by hand (heavy gloves) from these bags. They would come right up and bite off the diet as it came out. After some time they became accustomed to this and learned to not try to take the whole thing (hands, bag and all).
.
That's my tip on feeding things like Nile monitors.
.
Gus.

	In My Opinon IMO = In My Opinion and IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

[BWSmith]

That little critter needs some UVB light. Probably going to cost more for the bulb and fixture than the rest of your enclosure.

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[RioBravoReptiles]

And what I neglected to say about that diet I recommended below.. most monitors would make very neat and not so stinky-gooey-runny stools (with pieces of rat guts and so on included for extra fun) when on this diet. An important benefit!
.
Gus.

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