I'm getting an ackie soon, and am wondering what the best method of feeding is. Should I do forage feeding, where I just let a bunch of bugs around in the tank? I like the enriching idea of this, but it seems like it would lead to either under or over eating that I can't measure, and I'm not sure how many insects I would feed per feeding (The ackie I will be getting is around a year old). I also looked at tong feeding, where I could have them chase the tongs around, but I don't want them to only associate me with food and tong feeding however many insects they need (I'm guessing 30-50?) daily seems like a lot of work.

Just need to know because I haven't seen much discussion on monitor feeding.

Hello, my black throat is ready to move out of his 4 foot and was wondering if anyone out there had experience with getting their hands on large amounts of safe dirt for their big guys. We have a pretty massive room in our basement he’ll go into, I don’t have the measurements atm but I’ll comment them here later if it helps. Same with huge rocks or pieces of wood, do you guys recommend any specific way of getting those without hurting my wallet too bad? Any cheat codes? Would love to hear what you guys have to say

I’m going to be away for 8 days so I’ve placed an extra large water bowl inside the enclosure, a small bowl of dried crickets and my sister in charge of managing the UV light. Will ask her for update photos. Still very anxious about it

Could I keep a pair of Argus Monitors together in a 20x10ft enclosure? If I can then would it be better to have them in the same enclosure from a young age or introduce them as adults?

Thanks to Mick for helping me pack for Bali, I’ll post about the reptile zoo because I know they have many monitors

My Ackie usually comes out at around 3:30 I leave my home around 3:20 what can I do to feed waffles

Getting an ackie and I need a thermostat. Ideally it can take 2 bulbs (that way I don't need 2 thermostats), but that's all I need. I don't need something advanced like a herpstat and would like to spend less than $75. I've found thermostats for under $20 but they don't have enough of a temp range. I was also thinking I could just use one of the cheaper thermostats with say, a 122F max, but put it in a slightly cooler location next to the basking spot, and use a infrared thermometer to measure the temp difference (e.g. basking spot is 165 while this spot is 115). Then I'd just set the thermostat to 115 and the temp should be correct, right?

This sounds stupid but bear with me on this. Is it theoretically possible to train a monitor to be an attack/guard lizard?

This was like our 5th time of me trying to feed waffles. So I was wondering if it was bad or good and what does the head movement mean.

Hello again, everyone! I did get some help on my waterproofing question which was great, but I have another concern. I started looking at just how much 2 ft of dirt weighs. I was working from modified versions of the plans from Prof Herp (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MVBqiyPAdEb_KcP9Rxw529hMmxPQ_Cvy6jXbstrSxnk/edit?usp=drivesdk) and Brad's Bioactive builds. I ended up with a 5x3x4 layout. If I put two feet of substrate into a plywood box without framing (assuming good construction and tons of screws etc) how risky is it that it will bust out?

I have a concrete floor in the basement so that's not a huge concern. I had originally planned to put it on a stand made of 2x8s just to raise it up a bit.

I have my panels cut already - if I do need to reinforce it, what's a good way to do so without starting from scratch?

Thanks everyone - I appreciate any insight on this.

Hello all,

I plan on getting an ackie in the futur (long time project) and wish to offer him the best conditions possible. As such I have a question regarding terrarium position :

-Given the size and weight of an ackie terra (planning on at least 7*3.5*3.5) it's easier to place the terra on the floor but I wonder if the cat would not stress the ackie. What is your experience ? Did you put the terra in height to prevent constant cat starring ? Put the terra in a locked room away from the cat ?

So i wanted to know why is ALL of the info we have on black throated monitors (and some others) is atleast 4 years old (and some info just doesn't exist) I've been trying to find a growth rate of them and have had to throw together bits and pieces to try to get an understanding its so very annoying 😑