WELCOME TO THE SAILFINS 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 Sailfin! I have owned reptiles since I was six years old and have had a deep fascination with lizards. 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.
Amazon List:
- 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 decor 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
What to consider before purchasing a new buddy:
Additional Info:
Hydrosaurus amboinensis
They get around 3ft to almost 4.5ft! This monitor loves terrestrial space to run around and burrow. Sailfins are tameable but will take patience. They are not as shy as mangrove monitors, so you will get some reward for taming this species. Never forcefully handle any Sailfin, and don’t approach with your hand fast and above them. There are many different ways to tame your Sailfin; one way doesn’t fit all. Taming is more accessible when the enclosure is perfect for their needs and eating well. When you first get your Sailfin assuming it’s a baby, It is a safety 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 Sailfin, so if they accept that way of eating, you are getting a great start.
Enclosure:
Babies can live comfortably in a 40-60 gal enclosure with added climbing decor, but you can go more significant as long as hides are added. Sailfins grow fast and would need a quick upgrade. The economic idea is to upgrade yearlings to adult enclosures that are 5ftLx5ftWx6ft tall. Add a lot of substrate in any of their enclosures to allow them to burrow. 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):
These monitors are at their optimal health and happiness if they can swim and climb in their enclosures. Cypress mulch, coco fiber, and organic topsoil mixes would do great. Repti Bark tends to dye the water, so we avoid it.
Décor:
These monitors can climb, swim, and dig. Giving your Sailfin all those options in their enclosure setups is vital. 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.
Cohabbing long-term isn’t a good idea. You can put them in for breeding SUPERVISED. If you have no experience and haven’t researched this topic heavily, do not put them together. Pet stores can quickly put baby Sailfins together because there isn’t competition or breeding at their early stages of life.
Humidity & Temps:
60-80% Humidity. 85-90° enclosure ambient with a 115° Basking spot (Basking) and night temps of 75-80°. 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 in the beginning. Always approach a Sailfin slowly and low with your hand when you want to interact with them. Do not force a handling session with your Sailfin. It does not speed up the taming process. Let your Sailfin 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 Sailfin is tong-feeding them. If you can get them relaxed enough in your presence to tong-feed, with some days or weeks of feeding like this, the Sailfin 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 moving on them after their first tail whip or bite. I have made progress by slowly putting my hand out to them even while they are in a defensive position. Suppose they walk away, retreat. It is all about patience and dedication, but it is gratifying once you get them to trust you.
Feeding:
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 on what to feed your 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 with a mix of veggies and fruit. VARIETY IS KEY! Juveniles can move to a more meaty diet like adults, but fruit and veggies are vital. They can eat Meat: WHOLE PREY fish, shrimp, chicks/chickens, quail, and dusted with calcium: ground Turkey, Boiled egg, and chicken parts. Avoid feeding them liver parts, ground beef, mice/rats, and steak since they are either high fat or aren’t good for the reptile. WHOLE PREY IS KEY WHOLE PREY IS IMPORTANT. Those cheap chicken legs are convenient but shouldn’t be fed as much as you provide them other meats of entire prey. Fish is an essential key in their diet because of their natural habitat. Learn more about the veggies they can eat below this page.
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 Sailfin, 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 lizards. Every Sailfin 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 them with the regular 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.
Fruit & Veggies
They need fruits and veggies in their diet. Some good fruits are Apples, Bananas, Blueberries, Grapes, Strawberries, and Watermelon.
Some common veggies you can feed your Sailfin are collard greens, beet greens, mustard greens, broccoli, turnip greens, alfalfa hay or chow, kale, parsley, Swiss chard, watercress, clover, red or green cabbage, savory, cilantro, kohlrabi, bell peppers, okra, and green beans. Feeding them veggies may be a challenge, so cutting everything into tiny bits will help them eat them on accident!