Raptor the Savannah Monitor

Looks amazing ! I think a monitor might be my next reptile for my collection

Originally Posted by Mrflay

Looks amazing ! I think a monitor might be my next reptile for my collection

Be sure to read Savannah Monitors

And be prepared to make an 8 by 4 by 4 foot (at the minimum) enclosure weighing 2,000 to 3,000 pounds!

If you want one Mrflay you joined the right forum Make sure to read through as many posts here on the monitor section, read Waynes(infernals) website and of course the caresheet here. Make sure you know what your getting into. Right now I have a grumpy hissing little eating machine! He eats 30-50 crickets everyday plus I rotate between raw head on shrimp cut into pieces, quail eggs(Broken in a clay pot saucer), pinky mice(frozen thawed), snails and other insects. The 1000 crickets I ordered two weeks ago are almost gone, I'm ordering bigger ones next week!
He is finally getting braver, not darting into the nearest hide when I get the camra lol!

And success! Finally got him eating off the tongs Camra is to slow to take more pics but here is the closest

He took 2 peach fuzz mice off the tongs I have a baggy of them in the freezer they are too small for my yearling corns and will be too big for my new hatchlings

I love him! The hisses are pretty cute when they're small!

What a cute little guy! I love the name, too.

Originally Posted by AjaMichelle

Be sure to read Savannah Monitors

And be prepared to make an 8 by 4 by 4 foot (at the minimum) enclosure weighing 2,000 to 3,000 pounds!

I wish I had a way to find out exactly how much my enclosure weighs. I put support columns (floor jacks) under it to help keep my house level.

Originally Posted by Infernalis

I wish I had a way to find out exactly how much my enclosure weighs. I put support columns (floor jacks) under it to help keep my house level.

How many cubic feet of soil do you have? It won't be perfect, but you can make a pretty good estimation based on amount of soil, amount of water, and the building material. The water dragon enclosure I'm building will weigh roughly 1800lbs when finished, though it could be as much as 2100lbs depending on how high I go with the water and soil.

The dirt nearly filled the bed of my Dodge Dakota sport pickup truck.

I used 4 sheets of 3/4 inch sub flooring plywood, 1 sheet of 1" particle board (sealed in DOT vinyl) another sheet of 3/8 inch plywood for the ceiling, a whole pile of sheet aluminum, a whole pile of 2x6 lumber, a bucket of 1/4 inch bolts, nuts and washers, then there is the big rock that weighs more than I do....

The mass pushing down on my reptile room floor is quite large.

Well, you're probably between 65-75lbs per square foot of soil. Lumber is easy enough to measure, 3/4" plywood is roughly 2.5lbs per square foot (3/8" is half that), particle board is closer to 3.5lbs per square foot, and depending on type of wood used, estimate probably another 100lbs at least for misc lumber. Plus the rock. So, a lot. It weighs a lot. Haha (the weights are from when I did indoor staining. If I had to transport, I charged by the pound, so sadly, I have a whole notebook of this stuff. Of course all the measurements are going to vary based on type, but those should work for estimation at least).

I should state that the particle board is the high density stuff used for countertops, the sheet was more than I could manage alone.

I had home depot cut it into two 4 foot squares at the store, it's the only way I could get it in the truck.