Yes!! He's finally here! I intro you to Wilson!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/wolfy-hound/IMG_3194.jpg

Here he is after eating a good meal, and digging in his mulch, and nosing the rocks around, and finally discovering the PROPER tempurture basking spot on the slate rocks! He's all lovin' it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/wolfy-hound/IMG_3196.jpg

Wilson is about 1/3 the size of Moggie(my other blackthroat), and is about 5 years old(Moggie is about 3), due mainly to being underfed(like Ozzy the other rescue I got from the same folks). I'm not certain if Wilson will catch up in size, or if I'll eventually be able to put the two together(after a lot of intro and work to be sure there will not be a fight). But here he is! He's even handable, so far. Not sure how he'll be once he's properly fed and kept at proper temps. But Moggie is not friendly, and that doesn't keep me from loving her!

He looks like he is all tude in that first pic! Congrats on the rescue!

Congrats on taking him in...He looks like a big guy!!! Nice though =)

Thats the classic monitor look in that first pic. Dont muck with me Ill mess ya up!

His personality may change once you get him warmed up and some good ol fashion home cookin'. But maybe he'll stay a good boy, who knows.

Congrats on the new addition and best of luck with that handsome fella. Blackthroat babies in the future? Maaaaaaaaaybe so!

:yessir:

Cool monitor congrats :)

Great set of pics. Love that first one.

Yeah he is definitely posturing in that first pic! Muck with me and you WILL lose a finger Bucko!!!!!! Which is exactly why I love pits. They always have that "I am gonna make you bleed" look to them!

He's the man in that first pic.... watch out for the whip! LOL

Congrats, he looks awesome!

Cool pics and congrats....

Very nice!!!!Gotta love the big ones!
And i have to agree that first pic is definatly a tail whip waiting to happen!

The first pic he was posturing to one of my dogs he could see outside of his cage. He's now resigned to having dogs roaming outside "his" universe. Today he rummaged under the basking rocks a lot. I'm thinking I'll put in several bags of earth to give him a good 8 inchs of dirt to play in. I think that will make him happy too!
BTW Varanus99, basking spot is currantly 118F. I think by raising it with the added earth it'll get to a "proper" temp!

The first pic he was posturing to one of my dogs he could see outside of his cage. He's now resigned to having dogs roaming outside "his" universe. Today he rummaged under the basking rocks a lot. I'm thinking I'll put in several bags of earth to give him a good 8 inchs of dirt to play in. I think that will make him happy too!
BTW Varanus99, basking spot is currantly 118F. I think by raising it with the added earth it'll get to a "proper" temp!


Sounds like a plan. Always a better idea to raise the lizard to the bulb rather than increase the wattage.

For that big boy I would consider using a bank of bulbs if you arent doing that already. One just wont cut the mustard for him. 2-3 should do the job nicely. And they can be wired together to work on one switch or all plugged into a powerstrip so off/on is a snap.

8" of dirt will give him some diggin' room. But for burrows you will need a bit more. Depending on his size more like 2'. Thats a lot of dirt I know. But consider it an ongoing process. Can always add more substrate.

2 feet would mean no headroom, lol. That's for the outside pen, once it gets warm again.

very nice

God damn he looks just as pissy as my guy is! LOL

Congrats!

2 feet would mean no headroom, lol. That's for the outside pen, once it gets warm again.
And i was going tp ask why you dont have outdoor enclosure down there.:cool:

His throat doesn't look very black to me?

His throat doesn't look very black to me?

Now that you mention that, it is kinda white.

Love that first pic then go to second one all calm and resting

Wilson has dirt!! I think after about 2 hours he's starting ot really get into the idea of having stuff to dig in. At first he refused to even walk on it, and acted very freaked out. I don't think he's ever walked on dirt before! Now he's digging, one leg for a while, then finally switching. He's digging in one spot, and is tongue flicking like MAD, almost like he's tasting the dirt. I think I may have created a dirt-addict.
I put a video on him on youtube! First video for Wilson!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W94w6Y4KvK8

(It was still processing when I posted this, so I hope the link works!)
Thank you to Varanus, and he's got two bulbs right now, and going to get more set up in a better configuation.

You're welcome! I dont know what I did but you're welcome! :D

I am so happy. Happy happy happy. When I see a monitor who hasnt touched dirt in forever and now he has dirt I get nuts. Im so happy. I salute you Wolfy for going the extra mile for him. :yessir:

Yes he looks a little confused. If he hasnt seen dirt in 5 years or more he's getting his bearings. But look at all that tongue flicking! He's checking it out!

A diggable substrate is a pain in the tush. Oh yes I agree. Its SO much easier just to put them on newspaper or whatever. But OH MAN the quality of life you give them by letting them dig cant even be measured! Give him a little time and he's gonna be flingin' dirt like a backhoe!

Two bulbs is a good start. Hes probably big enough for 3 but two isnt terrible. And of course he could use more substrate but one step at a time. Here's a trick. If he doesnt have quite enough dirt to dig a proper burrow you could put a piece of flat cork bark or even plywood on top of the dirt and he will excavate under it. Not a necessity but he may like it.

Happy happy happy :D

It was 6 bags of dirt, but I'll be getting some more later this week to add to it.
I'm gonna try to get a big tile(18 inch tile) and see if he'll dig under that. I also was thinking of putting a extra light down towards the middle, to keep it warm over all.
Do you have any examples of the bank of bulbs? I can get the stuff I'm sure. Hopefully and not electrocute myself.
Should I worry about him burning his tongue on the bulbs? He keeps flicking his tongue up through the wire. It freaks me out.

It was 6 bags of dirt, but I'll be getting some more later this week to add to it.
I'm gonna try to get a big tile(18 inch tile) and see if he'll dig under that. I also was thinking of putting a extra light down towards the middle, to keep it warm over all.
Do you have any examples of the bank of bulbs? I can get the stuff I'm sure. Hopefully and not electrocute myself.
Should I worry about him burning his tongue on the bulbs? He keeps flicking his tongue up through the wire. It freaks me out.

A bank of bulbs is just a group of bulbs close together like you have. Thats it. I mean if you want to get fancy you can attache electrical boxes to a piece of wood and run them all together on one switch but dome lights can work. I just always suggest using more than one for big guys since some folks will use one light per cage as default.

Personally Id concentrate your lights on one side. Unless the other side is absolutely freezing which I doubt. As long as he has access to high basking temps the cool side can be 75-80 with no harm. Even cooler at night. He will just move from the heat to the cool as it suits him.

A big chunk of tile is a fine idea. No problem there.

Ive never had a monitor burn themselves on a bulb. And my bulbs are inside the enclosures. They could jump up and hit them if they wanted to but they dont seem to want to. Ive had some juvies bounce off them but it does them no harm. They are only in contact with the bulb for a split second. Then they learn no touchie bulb. I wouldnt worry too much about the tongue. He's just testing everything.

Thermal burns on reptiles are 99% of the time the result of a cold animal in a cold cage with either a tiny basking spot or a spot that is not hot enough. For example, if you had one bulb and a high temp of 110 he might sit under there for way too long trying to get warm and that one, small area of his body that was actually getting some heat could burn. When they cant heat their whole body or if the temps are too low they dont seem to understand when to move away. Its the opposite when they have a large basking area and high temps, as crazy as that sounds. They understand it better and they move when they are warmed up. A perfect example is all the iguanas who burned their bellies on hot rocks. Especially if that was the only heat source. Big lizard, small hot rock, cold cage, thermal burn.

His throat doesn't look very black to me?
Thats a black throat!:cool: