WELCOME TO THE AWM WORLD!
(Can be considered professional experience needed, or just mediocre with a lot of research.)
On this page, we will go over the care of your monitor! I have owned reptiles since I was six years old and have had a deep fascination with monitors. I have had years of researching, reptile-common-sense, and experience to debunk the false care info and put together a care sheet to meet your reptile’s needs and enrich their lives.
Products to buy from Amazon:
- Thermostat with probe is essential to regulate the correct temperatures.
- Dual Lamp to be able to provide a UVB and Heat bulb.
- Depending on cage size the heat bulb wattage can vary, your options are 25w, 50w, 75w, 100w, or 150w. The thermostat will protect the reptile from burning, but if you purchase a weak bulb you wont be able to heat the enclosure properly.
- Digital Thermostat and Hygrometer to monitor.
- Variety of substrates are available, but we recommend soil and play sand.
- A water bowl that allows them to be able to lay in it. We personally like this one.
- Hides and décor for the reptiles comfort.
- Here’s a starter enclosure for a baby, but if you are looking for something different there are these.
- Tongs for tong feeding and a worm dish to keep insects in a bowl for feeding.
- Calcium Powder without d3 or with d3
Additional Info:
Varanus Salvator
Expect a monitor around 4.5-10ft long with a requirement of a massive water hole to swim in. Males can get 5ft-10ft, and females get 4.5-6ft generally. Different LOCALITIES run smaller like Komani, Celebenis, and Bintan. However, caring for them won’t be much cheaper given a 5ft max monitor versus an 8ft AWM. This species is known to tame down with age/size & some localities are naturally more trusting. Most notably, it’s A LOT of work to tame, and you must have the time to dedicate to this monitor to socialize them properly. Taming can take 4-12 months and sometimes longer.
There are a lot of different ways to tame your monitor; one way doesn’t fit all. Some monitors tame better with no hides in the enclosure, and some do terrible. When you first get your monitor, assume it’s a baby. Do not forcefully handle them, and don’t approach with your hand fast and above them. It is a safe caution to leave them alone for 7-14 days besides cleaning their water and enclosure. After this waiting period, they should have settled in enough to accept food. Offer via tongs first, but if they do not accept, leave a dish out of the food. Tong feeding is a prevalent way to tame your monitor, so if they accept that way of eating, you are getting a great start.
Enclosure:
Babies can live comfortably in a 30-60 gal enclosure but would need a fast upgrade. The economic idea is to upgrade yearlings to a 6ftLx4ftWx4ftTall minimum. Add shelves, too, because the pool will take up much of their estate. This would be their final cage upgrade, but if you want to go bigger, you can. Just add a lot of clutter accordingly. You want them to be able to hide, to feel more secure.
Substrate(Flooring):
Cypress mulch and eco earth would do great; they burrow, so add enough substrate for them to dig under. Repti Bark tends to dye the water. Keeping a thick layer of a substrate according to the current size of your monitor is very important for females. Even if they do not have a male, they can lay eggs.
Décor:
These monitors can climb, swim, and dig. Giving your monitor all those options in their enclosure setups is essential. You can add climbing décor by screwing in logs to the sides of the enclosure. You also must add a tile on an elevated space for basking. Include a giant water bowl(they must be able to swim) on the cold side (reduces bacteria), and you can put a hide on the hot and cold side. Add a bunch of clutter. Refrain from cardboard. It molds super fast! Add décor that allows them to climb; from adults to babies, they love to climb. The tallest part of your cage should be a basking spot. They love to hang out in the highest place of their cage and bask. Younger monitors are more agile, but as they get bigger, they lessen the more challenging climbing décor because they can fall.
Cohabbing long-term isn’t a good idea. You can put them in for breeding SUPERVISED, but if you have no experience and haven’t researched this topic heavily. Please do not put them together. Pet stores can quickly put baby Asian Water Monitors together because there isn’t competition or breeding at their early stages of life.
Humidity & Temps:
65-75% or higher Humidity. 75-80° Cool side 115-130° Hot side (Basking). Always have a basking light on a thermostat for accurate temp control. Heating pads are never sufficient for lizard heating. You should ensure they have a dry area in their enclosure to prevent a foot infection that occurs when they cannot dry their feet out.
Handling:
They can be flighty at the beginning, even bitey and whippy. Always approach a monitor slowly and low with your hand when you want to interact with them. Do not force a handling session with your monitor. It does not speed up the taming process. Let your monitor choose when they want to walk on you. Let them walk on your hand. If you grab them, it will terrify them and make the taming process last longer than necessary. The first step to taming your monitor is tong-feeding your monitor. If you can get your monitor relaxed enough in your presence to tong-feed, with some days or weeks of feeding like this, the monitor will eventually be curious enough to climb onto you. You can make them more comfortable by hanging around their cage doing your usual home tasks and slowly putting your hand out without forcing it on them. Stop pushing yourself on the monitor after their first tail whip or bite. I have progressed by slowly putting my hand out to them even while they are in a defensive position (puff out, tailback). Suppose they walk away, retreat. It is all about patience and dedication, but it is gratifying once you get them to trust you.
Feeding:
Asian Water Monitors tend to get obese in captivity because their owners feed them a lot since they are “Hungry.” Which “hungry” means they are opportunistic eaters and will eat as much food as you give them. So it doesn’t mean they are always hungry, and you shouldn’t have to feed them like that. Feed babies small meals daily, juveniles get food every other day, and adults once a week to twice a week. I usually do it every three days. Feeding them once a month, in any case, is abuse; no slow-growing monitors are providing them once a month. That is an excuse for the owner’s inability to feed the monitor they thought they could care for. If you believe any different, you haven’t met Mr. Cuddles on my social media yet. He came from a family that would “slow grow” their monitor, and he came highly malnourished, dehydrated, and aggressive about what to feed his monitor through the stages of their lives.
Babies will feed on insects like well-fed crickets, waxworms, mealworms, earthworms, super worms, silkworms, grasshoppers, roaches, and canned insects. If you have a picky eater that won’t accept their bugs, bringing them straight to meat and eggs is no adverse effect. VARIETY IS KEY! Juveniles can move to strictly meat, the same as adults. They can eat Meat: WHOLE PREY fish, shrimp, chicks/chickens, quail, and dusted with calcium: ground Turkey, Boiled egg, and chicken parts. WHOLE PREY IS KEY WHOLE PREY IS IMPORTANT. Avoid feeding them liver parts, ground beef, mice/rats, and steak since they are either high fat or aren’t good for the reptile. Those cheap chicken legs are convenient but shouldn’t be fed as much as you provide them other meats of entire prey.
Vitamins:
A light dusting of calcium if it is not a total prey item.
Cleaning:
WATER IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO KEEP CLEAN. Please clean your monitor’s poops & pees once you see them; they can get sick if you don’t! Every six months, deep clean of enclosure & replace the substrate. F10 vet cleanser is an excellent method in getting the worse stains out and cleans glass just as well.
Taming:
To elaborate on taming your monitor, taking their hides out does not always work. So it would be a good start to give them somewhere to hide during this tame process; even giving them the proper big enclosure could aid in taming your monitors. Every monitor is different; there is no exact science, so starting with the most basic rule is safe. Please give them the correct enclosure without anything missing. Try taming your monitor with the standard tong-feeding method. If they do not take tong feeding, let them fatten up a little by giving them private feedings until they get adjusted to the feeding schedule. Then slowly start introducing yourself to the feeding by sitting there. If that works out, you can bring out the tongs and offer food like that. It’s a timely process, especially with most imports. Some come out the egg ready to eat off the tong, though I Have had those myself.
ALL FEEDERS:
List of all the insects
Duba, Hisser, DuskyCave, Lobster, Headlamp, Ivoryhead, Peruvian Cave, RedHead, RedGoblin, and Red Runner ROACHES
Florida OWNERS: Discoid, Australian, Green Banana, Suriname, Horseshoe crab, Oriental, Palid, Death Head, Florida Skunk ROACHES
Locust, Crickets, Grasshoppers, Silkworms, Superworms, Mantis, Earthworm, European/African/Canadian Nightcrawlers, Alabama Jumper, Black Soldier Fly Larva/BSFL/Phoenix Worms/Calci Worm, Butter Worms, Wax Worms, Hornworms, Shrimp, Crabs, Crayfish, Mussels, Snails, Giant African land snails, Helix Aspersa, Helix Vermiculata, Otala Lactea, Theba Pisana LAND SNAILS, Apple/Mystery Snails, Nerites, Ramshorns, Trumpets, Japanese Trapdoor AQUATIC SNAILS.
List of whole prey
salt water and fresh water fish, rabbit (rarely), chicken, quail, piglets, shrimp, crab, rats/mice (rat and mice not recommended to feed a lot because of their fat content), frogs(not poisonous), birds, and snakes.