Brumating a Nile Monitor

[volumerider01]

this coming winter ill be leaving my nile monitor for about a month and a half, i want him to brumate so i dont need to worry about having someone come by the house and feed him every other day. he will be indoors and alone so i can drop the temperture of the house down without roommates complaining. i need to know:

1. is this a good idea? possible complications?
2. what daytime temp to keep the house.
3. nighttime temp.
4. any special instructions? preparation?

So far i have read that he needs to be empty of all food and waste, and may need a basking area just in case he wakes up and needs to get warm. any info would be greatly appreciated!

[Dachande]

i never brumated a nile. but i did with my dragons. i don't brumate monitors; and definetly not one less than a year old and under 2ft. but if it was me and the nile was big enough, i wouldn't let it get under 70F in the room. and a basking spot of 80F should still provide warmth, but keep it cool enough so it doesn't begin to metabolize faster again.
the nile monitor book by Robert Faust (?Frost?) is very helpful and one of the few published literatures on nile monitors i would trust. it is an orange book with a big nile on the cover. get it before you leave.

get it good and plump before dropping temps and don't feed it for a week before dropping them. this will allow it to build up fat reserves and then empty stomach content over the last week before temperature drop. and drop it slowly and cut back lights earlier in the evening. you could set that low wattage bulb on a timer for 5 hrs minimum a day. i would not exceed 7 hrs though. if you use a low wattage heat emitter, forget what i just
said and keep it dark.

how big is it?

[volumerider01]

hes almost 2 years and roughly 30 inches. hes about the diameter of a silver dollar in his midsection. he hasnt hit his growth spurt so he is still relativly small. i have him in a 90 gal with a high bask under a 75 watt bulb, a low bask under a 100 watt bulb (opposite sides of the tank) and a large heat pad under the low basking side. so i could use the 75 watt over the low bask spot to create an ~80 deg bask site with the heating pad unplugged. i was also thinking of removing his large water dish and replacing it with a small drinking dish (until the water evaporates) so he wont try to brumate in the water. 5 hours or so a day would be fine with one 75 watt but i would be scared of him waking up during the day if it got warm enough. i suppose i could always put him to sleep a few days in advance just to make sure everything looks good. ill look into the book you mentioned, im sure it will be able to answer many of my questions. thanks for the reply , i was scared i wasnt going to get any... any more thoughts now that you know the setup?

just a thought... a low wattage infared bulb might be a good way to go?

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