Desert Sand monitor's

[Perenty7]

l know this maybe out of line to this website, l just wanted to share some photo's of my new Babie Desert sand monitor that hatch from its egg last night, and l still have 7 more eggs to hatch if all goes to plan.

And here are the adults that help to produce these eggs, they all come from Alice Springs Northern Territory Central Australia, you can see how l keep them outside in their enclosure.

[kris21]

Wow, cute baby and awesome enclosure...those tunnels would be loved! I like the little head sticking out on the left hand side tunnel

Those eggs look like chook eggs though
I hope your other babies are born soon.

Kris

[Funda]

Those pictures look awesome. The baby looks so cute
I love sand monitors so i enjoyed these pics alot,
I hope everyone else does to because there just so cool!

Love the set up and all those tunnels, thats how monitors love it!

And hopefully all of those eggs hatch, and make sure to take more picture of the babies if they do hatch

f.C

[AneesasMuse]

What a great enclosure for them! Congratulations, too! I hope all those eggs hatch and you have babies scrambling around everywhere

..they do look like chook eggs, though

[mom22wins]

Very cool! Pardon my niavete' (or however you spell it) but what is a chook?

[LittleFoot]

congrats on your eggs starting to hatch. I have always loved monitors, awesome pictures.

[Jenn]

Psst... Read my thread on lesson number 2. Throw in a random bluey picture and then this thread is totally on topic!!!! Those guys are really cool and I love the tunnels and things.

[AneesasMuse]

Very cool! Pardon my niavete' (or however you spell it) but what is a chook?

Chook = Chicken

[mom22wins]

Oh! Okay. I never would've guessed that. I was waiting for you to tell me about some other cool reptile or something. lol

Aren't monitors kinda mean? Or do they tame down nice when you raise them from babies?

[mewzic-7123]

amazing!, how big do those grow? they look great

[Perenty7]

These Sand Monitor's are found all over Australia except far south such as Tasmania which is too cold for them, there a 2 Sub-Species that accur here they a the Varanus Gouldii Gouldii and Varanus Gouldii Flavirufus, the ones l have a what you call the true Desert form Central Sand Monitor
Varanus Gouldii Flavirufus, which a found in desert fields of Central and Western Australia and the Sturt National Park, which is on the corner of Queensland and New South Wales and South Australia and Northern Territory.

They can be a little bit on the shy side, and don't like to be handle much at all, and they will tame down in captivity over time and don't mine a little rub on the back accasionally, but at feed time they can be aggressive
snappy, where they will go for anything they can get hold of including your fingers.

They like to eat Rats-Mice-Chickens-Spiders-Locust-Grass Hoppers-Crickets.

These Monitor's can grow to 1.4 metres, the males can get to 125cm, where the females can get to 90cm.

lt can take from 197 to 265 (days)to incubate their eggs, in a incubator with the temperature set at 28 to 32 ('c) and they can lay from 7 to 12 eggs on average.

[DeadEye]

There ORSM tip top nick to
thanks

[Funda]

Your monitors look very nice!
There so big.. and handsome

Thanks for sharing mate


f.C

[thesilverbeast]

wow, they look awesome.

so are they found here in victoria? i would've thought that they wouldn't be.

[Geoff Gates]

Les,

fantastic lizards... fantastic setup.

fabulous that you can get 'em to breed in Melbourne.

What process is involved in finding the eggs?

ie: How do you know when the female has laid them?

[Perenty7]

Sand Monitor's a found here in Victoria between Bendigo and Mildura in the mallee Region North Western Victoria area's like the Big Desert and Little Desert which is sand dune country, which is what the Sand Monitor's like, and it can be very hot in the summer months.

The way l can tell when my females have laid there eggs is, they look so skinny all over their body, because they have lost alot of weight why producing their eggs, and the way l know when she is about to lay her eggs is, she digs around alot looking for a good nest site and she try's to get out of the enclosure to get away from the others.

So what l do before she is about to lay her eggs is bring her inside and put her in a indoor enclosure with a mountain of sand position under the heat lamps, and l wet it a little bit so it is not to dry, then she will dig a hole in the sand directly under the heat lamps, because she can sense the heat there and humidity aswell, then in a day all two she would have laid her eggs during the night, then when l get up the next morning l see she has lost alot of weight, which means she as laid her eggs overnight.

Then l give her a couple of weaner Rats so she can start to gain some more weight, then l take her back outside with the others where she is more happy.

Then l come in and start to look for the eggs, by digging around with out knocking them at all.

l would like to say thanks to everyone who as replied to my thread on here, and all the good feed back l have receive about their outdoor enclosure and the Desert Sand Monitor's much appreciated.

[Geoff Gates]

Les,

another question....

Can you determine the gender of offspring by the eggs incubation temperature?

[Phantom]

Whats the Pearl of Wisdom?

[Perenty7]

l don't think you can detemine the Sex of Monitor's by lowering or increasing the temperature in the incubator, like you can with Turtles and Crocodiles.

But don't get me l could be wrong, l have not heard of anyone doing this with Monitor's.

l have so far hatch 2 out of the 8 eggs l have in the incubator, and there is still 6 waiting to hatch, and they all look healthy the way l can tell is by using a penlight torch, and seeing if l can still see blood cells inside the fertile eggs and l can in the 6 l still have in the incubator.

Here are a few photo's of the 2 l so far have hatched.

[Fatal_S]

Cute little guys! Good luck on the other 6 too!