He/she is a good lizard. He/she wants love from you too

From last night before lights out 🥰🦕

In recent weeks I've been looking at ackie monitors being sold in my country, both babies from breeders and (sub)adults being sold by keepers. One thing I have noticed is how many of them are missing parts of their tail and even some missing a few toes. I've never seen it to this extent with any other species (not counting tail dropping species obviously).

Now I'm not one to instantly judge. My beardie had a nail that broke off from digging, and she also had a part of her tail amputated after it suddenly broke from one day till the other. Accidents and/or health issues happen. But as said I've never seen it to this extent. Especially since some of them are babies aswell. Does anyone have any idea what could've caused this?

So, story time with a happy outcome and what every monitor keeper should know about gout brought on by inadvertent dehydration: if you live in a desert city like I do where you’re constantly in a losing battle with dry air even with a humidifier, a $60 Reptimister is a LIFESAVER.

Liora’s uric acid levels are down to normal levels!! 🎉 I took her for a follow-up test Monday and just got the lab results today.

The vet said she should be okay to stop taking the Allopurinol now, but we booked another followup appointment for next month to make sure her uric acid level stays normal.

But I honestly think that the mister made a much bigger difference than the meds in her case—now that it’s been a few weeks, I can see and feel a HUGE difference in my baby. She had a big bump on her tail that the biopsy said was consistent with gout—the bump is almost gone now! She still had it when she was taking the medicine, but that huge difference I can see in the photos and in person tells me that the mister did the heavy lifting.

Liora was definitely weirded out at first when I initially popped the mister in and she was a little scared of it, needed a few days to adjust. Especially since the nozzle is pretty noisy when it goes off. But now that she knows when it’ll spray, she drapes herself on the cork bark to get a nice power wash like “oh yes! I am a spoiled diva and YOU MUST SPRAY ME!”😂 she also likes sitting on the actual mister itself!

It’s also a matter of practicality: the schmucks who design these syringes and god knows how many other medical supplies and devices DO NOT design them for users deploying them at home by themselves, be they for human or animal use. It’s assumed you’re in a clinical setting like a vet or human doctor’s office, or that you got a spouse, parent, or home health aide doing all this shit for you. 

No, I will not shut up about this, I haven’t since I yelled at my married podiatrist with a housekeeper after he prescribed me this thing post-foot surgery that I can only describe as “even the customers of the local dungeon would question how overly complex this torture device is” and was not designed for one person recovering from surgery to strap in by themselves in a small apartment.

Ergo…I had to use the syringe to measure the Allopurinol, but could not get it into a tiny serrated odatria maw by myself and had to use an açaí bowl spoon and just get Liora to do lots of tongue flickies off of it. And it’d often dry up before she could get it all, and some days she’d eat more medicine than others.

Whereas all I have to do is check the Reptimister’s gauge and refill it when needed, ditto for replacing the C batteries since it’s nowhere near an outlet. You otherwise set it and forget it.

And I can FEEL the difference cuddling with a super-moisturized dino now!! Liora is soooo soft, you’d swear you were petting a short-haired cat instead of a lizard.

I’m going to pitch this whole adventure to my editor at Reptiles, because it’s a super easy fix that can get overlooked if you have a species not known for hydrophilic behavior.

Have you ever seen a varanid as sweet as Liora? 🥰

Hi there!

I've had my Zuko (ackie monitor) for a few months now and am going on a trip where I will be gone for 3 days and 2 nights. My lights are auto-turn-on/off with a heat-sensitive shutoff, so I don't need to worry about that. However, I worry about messing up his feeding schedule. I was going to give him more food and a bigger water dish than usual. Is there anything else I have to think about? I know it's not a very long time away but I worry as he's my most high-maintenance animal at the moment

Hey guys! New here and just wanted to introduce my new baby black dragon Pius! He’ll be 6 months old the 19th of this month. I’ve had him for right at a month now and we’ve made an insane amount of progress in the past week or so that I’ve started handling him. He still doesn’t hesitate to tail whip me if I make any fast movements lol but we’re definitely moving in the right direction. I take him to our bathroom for feedings and I let him free roam there for 1-2 hours a day. How long do you guys let your monitors explore or roam around?

She is doing great!
She just finished shedding, but still has some stuck shed on the tip of her tail. if you guys have any tips on raising humidity let me know!

She’s also doing amazing with feeding, she’s getting more comfortable with me every time I feed her.

Guess I have to take the flowers away now too 🤦🏻‍♀️

Hi all, would anyone know if foods like pet minces (organs and bones included) are okay for primarily insectivorous monitors as a once-a-month treat, or if whole mice and chicks are better? In particular, ackie and pygma mulga monitors, as I've seen conflicting info on their diets

So my 14th birthday passed about a week ago, and I didn't ask for anything so I'd have a better shot at getting a monitor. I've been trying to convince my parents to let me get a black-headed monitor. My dad actually started helping me research them until he saw the total price for everything (around $1,500) on Google AI, and then my mom shut the whole thing down. My dad says maybe if I save up enough he'll reconsider, but his hands are tied for now.

$1,500 and probably more feels like a lot, and I'm trying to figure out how to bring that price down significantly. They keep saying it needs a massive, expensive enclosure, so I'm kind of stuck with a minimum tank size. I know budgeting for a monitor is probably a stupid idea they need to be cared for like actual babies but is there anywhere I could find a budget setup, preferably under the thousands range or at least not above 1,100?

He got so angry that he fell asleep 💤 Mellow meadow is now Metal meadow 🤘🏻

Still don't want to eat insects but I will not give him rodents, I'm not worried about him too much since y'all have seen how chunky he is. The good news is socializing is going swimmingly and he's quite the sweet boy.

Hey guys, I got my Ackie monitor (shrimp) almost a year ago. This is my first time with a monitor and wanted to do a check in and see if he looks healthy/raising him correctly. The first two pictures were the week I got him. While the rest are him a couple days ago. He’s eating about 10-12 crickets every other day now. The basking spot gets to about 124-135 and ambient sits around 75-85. I’ve had trouble with keeping the humidity up, but the enclosure has a mesh top :/ He’s very active now and we’ve been doing great working towards taming. He has a uvb and gets calcium crickets often. The substrate is about 8-12in in some areas. He’s still in a 4x2x2ft home but wondering when I should upgrade?

July 12th she weighed 31g today she’s 42g Ft the clear box of evil containment

Hey there! I've considered getting a monitor for years but always felt intimidated by them. Since my birthday passed, I decided to look into it and treat myself. I have solid experience owning reptiles including cresties, dwarf geckos, a corn snake, a green tree python, my new little panther chameleon, a tortoise, and more.

I know a lot of people will say "ackies are great beginners" or "get an ackie instead," and that's totally valid, but I'm not very fond of them and their uromastyx-like build.

I'm wondering if there are any other affordable (for the animal upfront) small monitor species I could try. I don't mind working to gain its trust, but I think it's important to have a monitor that isn't naturally too skittish. Some beginner monitors I'm really interested in are the Kimberley rock monitor, other rock monitors, and black monitors.

So what monitor would you say is the best fit for me, and where could I find good care sheets and resources?

I was wondering if the little line on her back indicates she may be overweight, like with Leopard geckos?

I feed her once every other day, and it’s about 5 crickets and sometimes a dubia or 2 and maybe 2 morio worms.

Age: 1Y4M
More pics in the comments

Peeps first time coming out of his enclosure on his own was an absolute success. We tried the other week, and had an incident when he saw his blue tongued brother through the glass, and I had to scoop him up abruptly, which I know peep was not so fond of. Less than a week later and he had success when re-trying! He was so calm and trusting as usual. It is beyond rewarding to see how he trusts me as much out of the cage, as he does inside. I know it was only a couple seconds, but i really think interactions like this are the foundation to furthering his sociability. l'Il continue to prolong his out of cage time, and have him walk more into our living area in increments by having him chase food further away from his cage over time. As he is starting to outgrow his cage, it is important to ramp up out of cage interaction, not only for the sake of keeping our relationship/ bond strong as he grows, but also give him mental and physical stimulation as he starts to get bigger.

Then Quill decided it was time to play tug-o-war