Phillip the senior monitor lizard dreamt he was a Komodo dragon and attacks a bed.

I got a new baby kimberley rock monitor. They are in a 60 breeder to grow out, I know they need something much larger eventually. I saw and read a few places that I should add a T shirt to the tank so they get used to my smell, and since doing it it's the only place the little bugger likes to be. I assume this is ok but just checking.

In the picture below you can see me unravel the shirt a bit to confirm they are in there. Otherwise I've just been reading or hanging out near the tank with my hand just laying inside. Not trying to rush anything but want to make sure I'm not doing anything really wrong.

They don't like/get scared of tons with bugs. I've let some bugs loose in there so they can eat when they feel safe. Basking at the top is 140, there is a 14% uvb above a screen top out of scene.

Open to any/all critiques and tips.

So I adopted a bluetail monitor few month back, and she(he) is very spicy, like unusually spicy for a blue tail. She'll puff up the minute she notices I'm looking at her, and it took me about 5 month for me to feed her face to face(before she'll eat when she's sure I'm not watching). Yesterday I tried bonding with her by showing her my hand and gloves and when I touched her tail she immediately bit my glove 2 times before running away. (I know I was too invasive by touching her, I couldn't help it 😩 last time I touched her was like a month ago) I'm trying and will keep trying to tame her, but I sometimes wonder what'll happen if I'm not able to. She's already a juvenile or sub-adult and someday I think about what to do if I fail to tame her until adulthood.

Does anyone have an untamed big lizard? How does vet visits go?(my 1st worry) how do u treat them if they're ill? Are some guys just not possible to tame?

Got some air time on this again. Probably because he won't let go and just sorta...floats when I move my head lmfao

Okay so I've had this lovely scaly baby for over a month now, she's now five months and some change.

My question is how do you get them confident enough to climb on you and trust your hands? Do you never pick them up at all or give them a treat after if you do? Looking for advice, tips and any tricks. Picture for cuteness (she was shedding).

Trying my best at choice based handling but any advice or knowledge would be appreciated

I want you to draw me like one of your French girls. Or what ever newt said

Liora summoned me! She didn’t want a full snuggle, though. just wanted to say hi and give me a little blep!

This thing took me far longer than I’d like to admit , but I’m very happy with how it turned out. It’s got 5 built in hides along with 12” of substrate in the dig box and tons of space for Ackie shenanigans. My Andy is partially disabled due to poor husbandry by the people
I rescued her from so this was all built with her limited mobility/climbing in mind ! Seems like she’s loving it!

Loki got my finger this morning and doesn't even feel bad

I'm ANGRY at Corime. I hadn't seen Corime out of her hide in a day, assuming she had come out while I was out of the house and just didn't want to talk, I left her alone. Today, I decided to check on her, but she was NOWHERE.

I turned that tank upside-down, dug through the dirt and searched for holes she could've gotten out of. I was convinced she had disappeared into the abyss of my room forever and I was a terrible owner.

I sat on my bed to cry for a bit, then looked up and..... She was standing there. Staring at me like I was a freak. If she wasn't so cute and innocent looking I'd have wrung her little neck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SIGH!!! Shame her.

Worst part is this happened before, like 2 weeks after I got her with a different hole. This is one that had been filled with sand so I didn't know where it was and it was out of view. She dug it out and hid for a while.... filled it with rocks which she was very angry about

So I went to feed my Ackie Dubias this morning and I throw my Dubias in a bowl because they hide a bit too well, and I've done this for over a year now. This morning my ackie wouldn't eat out of the bowl, but when I fed her mealworms with tongs my ackie had no issue with it and would even chase the tongs and would even eat the Dubias if it picked them up from the bowl with the tongs. Her husbandry is 78F coolside 100F hotside and a 130F basking temp (yes I know it's on the lower end, she for some reason likes it and will only hover near the basking zone if it's higher) with humidity being 60% during the day and 70% at night

my ackies birthday is coming up and i wanted to give em a special treat (one time only)
and was looking at quail eggs since they are not to big and have other animals that would eat em if he doesnt he already gets a crazy diet with insects pretty much 13 diffrent species of them so that wouldnt rlly be a treat maybe im just putting to much human emotion behind it but idk would like to do something for the little guy

if its not safe or anything i just wont do it but i cant find any answers so here i am

An arboreal, intelligent blue lizard

I can only think of the blue morphs of the green anoles or the green keel bellied lizard?

i’m surprised the monitor didn’t bite the boa(?)

I found some cool rocks to layer over existing rocks in the enclosure to create a natural looking Retes stack. She loves it and it looks good I think.

It reads, "Less catcalls, more cats". I forgot I even owned it 🤷🏻‍♀️ it's non-scented btw, just a hunk of cardboard lol

Not a dragon, I know, just had to go with the punny title.

This little rascal King is my male V. tristis and he has been putting me through horny hell for over a year. I come seeking more advice, because I'm genuinely at a loss for words.

My lizard. Wants to mate. With my skin and clothes. 😭

Previously I posted about this over 6 months ago and was suggested to redirect his mating behaviour to a sock, and it did work for a month or so, but now nothing shakes his determination to court my hand.

Please send help. I love King, but I don't love him that way. He refuses to believe that.

I will finally be joining the monitor club and would love to hear any and all advice! He is an AWM cumingi locality. His breeder has approved my setup and experience/research so not many questions there unless you want to quiz me! (I am open to a quiz question though! Haha) I do have a vet as well.

Aside from any advice, I do have a few questions:

- What’s your favorite part about owning an AWM? :)

- Routine for cleaning up after poops in the bathtub? Currently thinking I will fish out what solids I can and then drain and disinfect.

- What does your enclosure cleaning routine look like daily/weekly/monthly?

- I want to get him used to me “brushing” him to help with sheds so I thought starting with a soft bristle tooth brush at bath time would be good, thoughts?

- Enrichment ideas, I currently plan to take him outside on a harness, have him out as much as possible, out of enclosure basking site, dog puzzles, hiding food “hunts”, supervised whole prey sessions (he’s still little), crickets and goldfish in the bathtub, maybe hide food under some small rocks at bath time, outside of enclosure water feature for when he’s out, maybe a little cardboard maze house or something with food hidden?, nature sounds to mimic natural environment, cat tree with fake plants/vines, maybe clicker training..?

- I’m already planning his next enclosure for when he grows out of the current one. I’d like to figure out a way to do water changes without having to pick it up and dump it or connecting to sewage. I’m thinking a drain with a bucket under it that I can dump out or an electric fish tank “gravel cleaner” pump that I could turn on and pump into the toilet. Has anyone used something like that?

- Future plans if you’re curious. 10x10 minimum and also will not rest until he has the ability to swim indefinitely if he wants to. So some circular or very large water body 100%. Think moat/lazy river. I don’t like to see them only have tubs if I’m being honest. I’m sure they are happy and well kept but if he wants to swim for a mile I want him to be able to (even if it’s in circles lol!). I just want him to be able to feel like he can swim “somewhere” or at least keep swimming instead of just being able to sit in it.

Enjoy my disgust when she starts smashing the mealworm into my hand