I got an Ackie monitor about a month ago, he’s tiny only a month or two old. The first couple days he was extremely active running everywhere. I am fully aware burrowing is their natural behavior.

The past 2 weeks or so, he usually goes down into a burrow and just stays there. This makes it difficult to feed him. I’m not worried about him being crushed, but since he’s so small he can get under flat basking rocks and other items.

Every few days I’ll have to literally dig him out and reposition the basking rocks in hopes he won’t be able to get under, but he always does. Temps are all correct, and verified daily. 80 ish ambient and 100-110 basking.

Just looking for recs on maybe curving the burrowing or should I just accept it?! My main concern is the feeding portion; if he’s burrowed, he won’t see the bugs (I literally have never see him leave the burrow once he gets in it. I always have to dig him out). Thanks!

He just loves squeezing himself between the substrate shield and the glass of the enclosure. Sometimes he'll force his way in and then just hang out flattened for a while. Other times hell kind of cage surf (just crawl from side to side between the glass and substrate. Which I imagine isn't the easiest especially because he's squeezing his big ass through the tiny space. Lol he's a crazy boy sometimes. There's times where he'll literally do this every morning for a few weeks.

I promise he's not fat he's being squished. And he's not trapped

Larry is 9 and he's amazing. Just thought I'd share!

Buddy, it's empty bc you ate all of the bugs already 🤦🏻‍♀️

Just bugs for my favorite fat savannah monitor

Liora loves to take naps with me 🥰 she gets nice and comfortable on my boob then falls asleep to me petting her and telling her how much I love her. Sometimes, she also sweetly rests her head by my neck. I love all of our adorable rituals!

Still super sus of hands but will get right up in the camera silly girl

How much would it cost to make something like a 6 foot or 8 foot enclosure diy?

Going first, I think way too many people in this space seem to look at their monitors as paycheck or just a lizard..? It feels like there’s just a coldness to a lot of people who own monitors something. Like people just trade and give their pets away for breeding etc. I see descriptions on morph market like “picked this guy up for a breeding project, decided I didn’t want to do that anymore”. What do you mean project lol? To see such beautiful creatures diminished to human projects is just insane to me.

I’ve had him for a month now, making pretty good progress, I tried stroking his chin today and introducing touch to him and he decided to bite down on my finger. I’m not sure if he thought it was food or he was letting me know he didn’t like being touched.

Been a while since I gave an update so here it is. Sorry about the mess this is a new house and he was my top priority.

I love it when my baby joins me for coffee 🥰🦕

lol there’s also a coffee shop in Silverlake called Dinosaur Coffee and while it’s pretty good, alas. I have Brontosaurus Coffee at home

Hey, I really want a monitor lizard, but dont know what to get. I would preferably want a cheaper end enclosure. I would want a very interactive one, less like a bearded dragon and such that kinda just chill with you. Thanks!