help on nile monitor

[iRock18]

while working the other day a friend of mine found what he thought was an iguana, he picked it up and took it home and called me. When I saw it I new it was a monitor and brought it home. Have since researched it and found out it is a nile. I have the space to build him a good home, just looking for the best materials to build it out of. The area I have for him is app. 11'x4' by 6' high. Any tips and advice would be great. I really don't think he would have survived an Ontario winter and have no fears in keeping him. And know enough to respect him for what he is.

[nomadbean]

You found a Nile Monitor in Canada? Did you post lost ads as it MUST be someone's lost pet? Just curious about the details, seems weird to find one of those without any obvious health issues in a place with such low night time temps. As far as materials, plexi glass doors and shower board 2x2 & 2x4 frame with mulitple basking spots and 115 Degree basking spots. Good luck, oh, high humidity and UVB are musts. With monitors it is Keep em Hot and feed em a lot. Good luck.
Trina
OMNIherp, LLC

	Ultra Violet Radiation B Ultra Violet Radiation B

[VoodooChile]

That is the weirdest herp find I would have heard of...
Good luck!

[iRock18]

location makes it look more like a ditching and not a loss. was on a country road heading into a corn field. thanks for the help, will let you know how it goes and will send pics when I get it done. Is the space I mentioned going to be big enough, if not I can try to find a different spot for him

[Dachande]

UVB is not a must. i use GE 45-50W halogen outdoor floodlights. with correct diet and temps, you have no need for "special lighting". many would debate this, but i have kept and rescued monitors for years now. other advanced keepers i speak with will tell you the same as they have raised, bred and reproduced with the same bulbs i use.
how long is the monitor? i can give a better estimate on enclosure size if i know the animals length.
good luck with it. niles are my favorite of the large monitors. any other questions i will be glad to answer for ya.

[Yungair23]

ive got a little nile and he is meanest ive ever met charges with a wide gaping mouth. Any help on trying to tame him?

[iRock18]

he is about 2 feet long, and any help would be great. my first monitor but am willing to do whatever it takes to make him a good home and give him whatever he needs

[Dachande]

Yungair23- i've gone through this many times with others and i thought you may have read it before; but the answer is no. i can't help because monitors cannot be "tame"; as everyone tries to put it.
it will take time before it learns you are not a threat. it will take longer before it tolerates your prescence and longer to be tolerant of handling without tail whips and threat displays. your key is patience and dilligence. hang in there and keep trying. that's all i can say. when handling, it will get defensive alot on the first tries. eventually it should calm down and learn that you are not a threat. they learn food association first, and you can take it as an advantage. just rememder you are a food source. it's first reaction to you approaching the cage wiil be the feeding response. this will take strong nerves and the patience mentioned before. if you tong feed, it helps. it will notice tongs in hands vs. no tongs.
there's no way of saying all this will work for sure. monitors differ from another just like people. and to say," take it out for 5 minutes 2-3 times a day for 6 months and then do it 10 minutes every other day for a year and it will be 'tame' "; would be blowing smoke up your @$$. that may have worked for someone else, but remember monitors are individuals and some may never get used to human interaction. prepare for the worst and be grateful when it begins to tolerate you. i personally have an argus that can't be handled easy as well as a carpet python that will tag you in a heartbeat. those are my wild-child animals. the monitor acts like a monitor and the python acts like a typical wild python. everything else i have tolerates handling, except my new, very shy varanus timorensis. and i am prepared for the worst with it.
many varanid enthusiasts will tell you that if you want a handleable lizard, get a beardie and that monitors are not for you. but i say have patience and prepare for the worst. when it does begin to tolerate you, be grateful.
iRock18- general rules on monitor enclosures regarding size are: 2 times the lizards length for length of cage. so a 2ft-er should have a cage length of minimum 4ft. on width you go 1 times it's length. so a 2ft-er should have a minimum of 2ft width on enclosure. height needs to be about 3ft. you need about 1ft of dirt covering the bottom of the cage. then allow for elevated basking spots such as stacks and logs to climb on.
you can get the lights i use form Lowes or Home depot. you can acquire the soil there also, just be sure it is plain topsoil. no fertilizers, compost, manure or pesticides. just plain dirt. you can also get dirt from your back yard depending on how the soil is where you live. be sure to sift it for debris; rocks, sticks, broken glass and nails. i have found all of this when getting soil from my yard, so sifting is a must.
offer whole foods. don't bother with ground turkey, dog food or any items you can get at a grocery store. insects should be supplemented (i use Miner-All I) and vertebrate prey such as mice and chicks need no supplementation; as they have everything a monitor needs in body and gut content. if you can get access to farm raised crayfish. niles love 'em. but wild collecting crayfish can carry pollutants. remember to never offer wild caught prey items.
niles enjoy large water basins to soak, but they frequently defecate and fill it up with soil. soaking can be done in a bathtub and a smaller water tub can be in the enclosure for drinking water. this will still get dirty, so daily cleaning will be needed for the water bowls or containers. many believe they have to have alot of water, but if you keep it on soil deep enough, it will get humidity and moisture when it burrows.
avoid whole screen tops. they allow alot of humidity and heat to escape. partial screen is okay, and needed if lights are set on top of the cage in the conventional style. tin foil over most of the top can make a solid screen top work the way you need it.
anything i might have missed, just ask. i'll try to help as much as i can and direct you to some good info. speaking of; there is a book on nile monitors by Robert Frost (or Faust, can't remember as of now) that is very informative. it has older information that may be outdated and a little off and new info on monitor care has come out in recent years. but it can give you a good guideline on most husbandry issues. it's an orange book with a nile on the cover.
good luck to both of you and keep ua all posted on their progress.

[iRock18]

Thanks so much Dachande, I will go and get a copy of that tomorrow. As for size I got a better chance to measure him today while he was in the bathtub. He is around 38 inches, any idea how old he might be. I will try to take some pics of him this week and post them. I understand the minimum size, too big won't matter will it.

[Dachande]

no telling with age. my argus was 2ft in a years time. i doubt the niles previous owner fed it well enough to allow it proper growth. i've even rescued a savannah that was under 1ft and the owner at that time said he had it for a year. it was severely stunted. currently adopted by a friend, it has gotten over 2ft in the past year. they get big quick and plateu before another growth spurt hits.
and there is no such thing as too big for an adult monitor enclosure. bigger is better.

[Yungair23]

thanks for the help Dacande am i stressing the nile too much that he defecates or is that a defensive mechanism? I always figured it was defensive.

[Dachande]

it is defensive. but consider it a blessing in disguise.
very well disguised.............

from my experience, (and this is just me. results may vary) poopers are less likely to bite. it's kind of a last resort when biting and tail whipping does not work. think of yourself as a predator. most animals preying upon niles are going to pick them up with their mouth; not hands.
see where i'm going with this?

it is going to be stressed if you handle or interact without bringing food. if you are just feeding it, that interaction does not cause stress like handling. what you are looking at is too frequent of handling that casues the monitor to not want to eat or stay in the hide 24/7.
how often would you say you handle it?