Draco Is Here!

[LlamaxPalooza]

My little salvator finally came today. He has great colors, clear eyes, and pretty decent weight.
I put him in his cage and he instantly went into roaming phase, then took a little break to bask under his hot spot. I decided I'd see how he reacted if I threw I cricket in and I'm pretty sure it was in his stomach within 2.5 seconds, haha. All together he knocked off a dozen large!
I got the best picture I could get as I refuse to disturb him anymore until he's fully acclimated, so here he is!

[leoares27]

very nice looking...
i don't know much about savs...but (and correct me if i'm wrong ppl), you should probably be careful feeding crickets on the mulch...if he's like my tegu, he goes nuts and probably grabs some mulch with the cricket, which is probably bad for his belly...
after one time, my tegu getting a mouthful, i feed him outside the cage now...just to be safe

very cool though!

[razeraze]

One this is not a sav it is a water monitor (varanus salvator) and a little substrate does not hurt a monitor or many other lizards as long as they are not large sticks that can get lodged in the throat or digestive track.

The water monitor should be on dirt though for burrows and egg laying.

[LlamaxPalooza]

Yeah, I wanted to get him acclimated first on the cypress before I started messin' arond with dirt.

Also, Kelly (I believe,) from Pro Exotics states its okay for the hatchlings in glass aquariums. I intend on getting him a large custom cage which will definatley have a dirt mix to be determined

Also, if your wondering about the whole glass aquairum, it's doing great. All I did was use some packaging tape over half of the screen and his humidty is hovering around the mid 50's to 60's.

For future reference though, what do you use as a mix for your monitors raze? I'd like to start getting the ratios and tests with different mixes done before the cage is up

[razeraze]

Here is the best set up I saw for a glass cage. It is courtesy of DRZRIDER.


I am not big on trusting pro exotics. They told me salvators are the "dog tamed lizards" of the monitor world, they were completely wrong. If somebody is selling you something, odds are they are "SELLING YOU" something.

Be sure you are ready for a 6-9 foot lizard that can get quite nasty.

[LlamaxPalooza]

Ya, I'm ready

I didn't get it off them, just read her article she wrote for reptiles. I agree though, I'm aware there is no certainty on a salvators temperment, let alone any monitor for that matter.

[carpondro17]

Now thats a good looking tank I wish I could get something like that on some of mine. As for you salvator I know a lot of people who keep their hatchling in a tank then they move into their home made cages soon. He looks good.

[LlamaxPalooza]

Ya...I expect he'll need a new cage in two or three months..possibly sooner haha

[Maelstrom]

Looks good
Love the colors on him..
Thanks for the share.

[jtmoney]

You can also use plexiglass tops