SPIKE the ackie

Okay so Spike who was named by my mother, I'm getting him on friday. Not certain if he's red or yellow, (I don't know the difference)

Anyway right now I've got his vivarium mostly set up, so I figured I'd post pics in here. Waiting on a basking rock (not heat rock) to stick below the basking area. Currently I have a slate tile there.

Anyway here's the viv setup at the moment

48*18*18(i think) vivarium
10% Desert arcadia tube light thing.
reptile radiator heat soruce
50w heat bulb because my flat is freezing (will be off during summer)
two cork bark tube things
a piece of wood
Lucky Reptile desert bedding

Currently waiting on a multi level basking rock. ANYWAY here's the pictures, I'll post a few more when Spike comes home. Any tips from ackie owners? Anything I'm missing? Anything I should be aware of?

Got a few pics of him from the store. These will be the last pics until he gets home.

He's home now, ate a couple hoppers this morning (Impossible buggers to catch and dust, I think I got more exercise than the ackie did) took these pics last night.

Very cool!!

Thanks nanci. Although wish I could edit that post to shrink down those giant pictures, would make this thread much easier to handle :P

He's settled in quite nicely over the weekend, occasionally goes out to explore. I've made a few modifications to his viv, and I'm currently waiting on materials to build a rete stack. I have however discovered a few things since having him

1: Crickets smell.
2: Locusts are a pain in the ass. Seriously you get one to go into the pot they're meant to be in, another one jumps half way over the room, you catch that one and in the meantime another one has managed to escape. Then the situation earlier where I had two managed to hop out at once, in opposite directions, caught one and the other is still loose in my bedroom somewhere I'm sure (or I imagined it)

I also still have yet to figure out how to separate the mealworms from their oaty bedding. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.

As another note, for somebody with a long running fear of insects, this is kind of cathartic in a way, getting used to grabbing locusts etc.

I'll be popping up more pics when the retes stack is build and in place.

Originally Posted by wowfood

Thanks nanci. Although wish I could edit that post to shrink down those giant pictures, would make this thread much easier to handle :P

He's settled in quite nicely over the weekend, occasionally goes out to explore. I've made a few modifications to his viv, and I'm currently waiting on materials to build a rete stack. I have however discovered a few things since having him

1: Crickets smell.
2: Locusts are a pain in the ass. Seriously you get one to go into the pot they're meant to be in, another one jumps half way over the room, you catch that one and in the meantime another one has managed to escape. Then the situation earlier where I had two managed to hop out at once, in opposite directions, caught one and the other is still loose in my bedroom somewhere I'm sure (or I imagined it)

I also still have yet to figure out how to separate the mealworms from their oaty bedding. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.

As another note, for somebody with a long running fear of insects, this is kind of cathartic in a way, getting used to grabbing locusts etc.

I'll be popping up more pics when the retes stack is build and in place.

They aren't too bad if kept clean. When I lived in New Mexico, humidity was low enough that I could use bran flakes to help with the odor. Since moving to Texas I can't do that. I was having huge die offs from early bacteria growth. Now use no-substrate method on my crickets, but have to dust pan out their caging every 2 days. If you can get some Repashy Bug Burger over there on that other side of the pond I've noticed odor to have reduced since switching to it. If not, I've had great results gutloading on a high quality tropical fish flake mixed with a re-moistened high quality organic dog food and then mixed together with human-grade spirulina (adds natural pigments to the diet and helps with coloration). You can do the same for the locusts.

As for the mealies, I use a kitchen, handheld flour sifter. It took me forever to find one that had large enough screening to allow bran and wheat germ flakes (what mealies are packed in here) to pass through.

Some have abandoned it, but have you looked into doing San Diego Zoo's old turkey diet recipe? I still use it, but also feed my ackies other prey.

Been seeing quite a bit of breeding from my assumed pair the last couple weeks. Hopefully it'll translate to something. They're fun lizards and i severely regret having sold my first one (a female I got from Ron St. Pierre as a month old hatchling in 99) back in '02 to fund getting a green tree python.

I've recently become interested in monitor species. I have a small farm, and my cat is a spoiled picky little thing and she won't eat scraps from processing my animals. Would a small monitor like an ackie enjoy organ meat, quail eggs, and other raw meat scraps?

Spike sure is cute! I love the faces of the little monitors--they look so alert and intelligent.

So far as I'm aware, yes they will eat scraps of meat (uncooked of course) apparently common treat foods for them are turkey mince and scrambled egg, although I've seen it recommended that these are kept as a very rare treat for them.

I'm still getting used to him (and him to me) right now. Trying to get him used to me so when I need to clean out the viv he doesn't spaz out >.> so right now I'm keeping my hand in the viv (not moving) for 10mins before I start feeding, hoping he'll start associating my hand in the viv with getting fed.

I've also added a plastic shoe box on the cool end filled with the substrate so he has something to burrow in. I keep seeing loads of posts saying "They need at least 12inch of substrate" but from what I've found all they care about is hiding places and any amount of substrate so long as they get covered is enough. So far he hasn't dug once, he just hides beneath the bark I've got layed out in there.

Anyway, that's just reminded me of a question I need to post in the 'other questions' forum.

I love monitors <3 Ackies are cute!! Squee!!!!

Regarding Monitors that likes scraps, Ackies are more prone to insects as are the savannah monitor...

The bigger guys can eat some of meat scraps and organs but will also need whole prey items (calcium from bones).. Ie mice rats insects... and mainly that...

Something that will eat scraps hmmm, cook it and make dog treats out of it and sell it... a lot of raw feeders will pay money for organ food depending on what animal but.... they may take the scraps too... For a lizard it'd be too fattening all together... even for dogs organs should be rotated on a raw diet...

I have two savs myself and they go trough a ton of insects and hoppers..
Once in a while when waiting for shipment I substitute with turkey..

Oh I know! You could look at the bigger guys, like croc monitor, nile monitor, they eat more of that sort of food, so you could easily put more of the scraps in there but again, they need a very versatile diet..