The Savannah Monitor, Varanus exanthematicus

Housing – What Not to Do

The primary husbandry error and number one Savannah Monitor killer is the pet industry standardized setup – a fish aquarium with a screen top, newspaper substrate, half-log hide, and high wattage commercial pet company spot basking light. We have all seen this setup, and while it may work for a bearded dragon, monitors have much different and more specific requirements than other reptiles.

The below screen capture was found on an inexperienced keeper’s Youtube account and is a great example of what not to do: 1.

Rather than make judgements based on human preference, we simply again look to the monitor as the greatest teacher. If this were a successful setup, you would see an alert, active monitor, a monitor with a great food response and who is inquisitive when a human approaches. The fact that the monitor looks dehydrated and extremely lethargic and is almost unresponsive as a large human is hovering over the enclosure, shows that something is terribly wrong.

Why not an aquarium?

Having said all this and looked at better cage design, let’s revisit the standard pet store lizard setup, the fish aquarium with screen top. Why specifically does that not work?

1. With an 8′ x 4′ footprint of an adult enclosure, there is no aquarium on the market large enough for an adult. Even a 75 gallon aquarium will not be deep enough for the lizard to turn around easily.

2. As we’ve established, you cannot hold humidity consistently with high ventilation, all your humidity is going to escape through a screen top.

3. A single high wattage “pet store basking bulb” has a focused beam that can not only cause spot burns, but because of its high wattage will be another enemy to the humidity levels you are trying to achieve.

To use an aquarium with a screen top provides the same level of humidity in the cage as exists in the room the cage is in. Human room humidity is too low, equal to the “dry season” of the savannah, the worst time of year for the monitor. Kept in too low humidity for too long, the monitor will easily become dehydrated. Many Savannah Monitors in captivity even go off food in these dry conditions 2.

The standard pet store setup, since it dries out and cooks the monitor at the same time, has subsequently been nicknamed the “monitor jerky machine”.

As monitors need high humidity, a setup like this is a great way to cause dehydration, impaired metabolic function, lethargy, and other health problems such as visceral gout. Health problems such as these can drastically shorten a monitor’s lifespan.

Q: What about free roaming? I’d like to give my monitor the spare bedroom.

Free roaming is always a terrible idea. We have already established that Savannah Monitors need to be on soil and require high humidity with high ambient temps and even higher basking temps. These requirements cannot exist in a human house without rotting the floors and drywall.

It is extremely detrimental to the animal, and ends in a circle of health problems.

Q: I’ve read this through, but I’m stuck with a screen-topped aquarium until I get more money. What can I do?

Mistakes can be corrected, when caught in time.

Here is an aquarium workaround a friend used for his Ackie 3. Lower wattage bulbs are used, the basking spots are brought closer to the monitor, the top of the aquarium is is completely enclosed to retain humidity, and the monitors are on soil.