My Sav and her new home.

[Maelstrom]

Hey folks..
thought i would post some pics of my Sav and the new enclosure i finished for her yesterday..
Shes about 11 months old now and is approx 28" long and not sure on the weight but shes heavy haha..
i got her in her new tank last night and she seems to be loving it so far..
Pretty much right now shes just testing her boundaries and seeing how far she can go, trying to scale the walls and such..
Moving her into the tank was easier than i could have even hoped.. I was a little worried about picking her up as i havent for a long time due to her tall aquarium and trying to gain her trust. I reached my hands in and very gently got under her hind legs/belly and her front legs and not a bit of struggling or hissing she just kinda looked at me like "whats goin on??"..
After being in the tank a couple hours i noticed her pawing at the door so i thought "hrrmm perhaps she wants to see me..". Opened the door let her sniff me.. HISSSSSSSSSSSSS *run away* haha.. So im assuming it will take a week or so to let her get accustomed to the new place and then we can start working on the trust issues again and eventually getting her outside the tank to get more acclimated to people if thats what shes into..
this is the outside of the enclosure.. its 8' long, 42"deep and 4' high.

basking area. (the usual temps are 105F. I'll probably be pickin up a temp gun this weekend coming so i can get a more accurate surface temp reading and get the exact temp i need)

This is the cool spot and bath tub which she spent 20 minutes swimming around in and promptly defecated in when she was done.. thanks Attila.

This was taken directly after i put her in the tank.. Pretty nervous

Another taken a couple minutes later.. still pretty nervous.

After about 6-8 minutes she stopped being so nervous and decided it was time to explore..

and her politely asking me to leave her the #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^& alone so she can explore on her own.. i politely obliged.

I will most likely be adding some leaves to my top soil/playsand mixture i have in there now cause she seems to like them..
Thanks for looking

[razeraze]

Sounds like you are off to a great start. The leaves may not be a great idea, I noticed my sav tries to eat them and then tries to avoid them. They come from grasslands not jungles or swamps like salvators. The majority of monitors that are on leaf litter tend to be from areas with more trees than flat land grass. If you want you could mix in some cypress mulch it will help build a structure for good burrows and nests if your monitor turns out to be a female.

[Maelstrom]

Thanks Raz
I'll opt out on the leaves then.. They were a bit of a pain in the butt anyways as it was hard to see where she went to the bathroom sometimes..
I prolly should have mentioned all constructive criticism, comments and suggestions are more than welcomed!! Im in this to learn as much as i am to experience they joys of owning a monitor.. So feel free to offer up anything that comes to mind folks

[TammyJamaica]

Your monitor and your setup look just great to me!

[Razaiel]

That's a nice enclosure I put a load of oak leaves in my sav's enclosure last year and they didn't last long - they just decompose into the dirt. If my Savariano accidentally ate some he just kinda filtered them out of his mouth.

[Maelstrom]

Thanks folks
It feels good to know im giving her what she needs and making the best possible captive life for her that i can.

[razeraze]

congrats and good luck.

[Maelstrom]

Thanks again Raz If i ever run into troubles i know where to come

[LlamaxPalooza]

Great pictures man!

And yes, you definately are giving her a great captive environment Once acclimated I'm SURE she's going to be a very happy little sav =)

Thanks for sharing!

[luker3232]

Some big branches give them something to climb on... looks good