# my black roughneck monitor



## smokinbubbles (Mar 25, 2005)

this is my black roughneck monitor Earl. hes about 4 feet and still doin some feelin out. right now he mows through 4 weaned rats a week and still has room for more. hes got a dog house i put in there for him to sleep in but he uses it for everything but sleeping in. the cage is 9'L x 4'W x 6' T by the way. his water bowl is a large cat litter box that he can lay in for hours at a time. sorry for everyhting for bein so quick im just in a real hurry. i will try to get some better pics tomorrow.

J-Rod


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## KINGofKINGS (Jul 24, 2006)

holy sh*t! looks like a fuckin komodo dragon...nice!!! we need better pics! i take it hes a bit aggressive? nice to see you have a big cage for him... but again more pics!


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## smokinbubbles (Mar 25, 2005)

hes just really shy. he won't bite but just hiss a lot. it was hard ot get a picture becasue he was just about to goto bed and he was already on the ground. when i opened the door to take a better pic he ran under the dog house and went to bed. i should be able to get some better pics tomorrow.

J-Rod


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

i dont see no pic of the lizard clearly,,,lol but iam feeling it ,,,ha i love moniters of any kind. thay are the piranhas of the sand doomz,,,, i cant wait to up grade to somthin bigger than a savanha moniter,,


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

Be careful with the overfeeding of your rudicollis.
These guys have an extremely small stoch for a large varanid, and are serious insectivores in the wild...they will eat nestling birds and eggs..but heavy duty mamalian prey is a sure fire way to send this species to an early grave.
They are seriously awesome lizards..even more fun to watch them come out of their eggs!


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

CrocKeeper said:


> Be careful with the overfeeding of your rudicollis.
> These guys have an extremely small stoch for a large varanid, and are serious insectivores in the wild...they will eat nestling birds and eggs..but heavy duty mamalian prey is a sure fire way to send this species to an early grave.
> They are seriously awesome lizards..even more fun to watch them come out of their eggs!


I'll second everything CrocKeeper said and add, keep the humidity WAY up, your setup looks very dry. I've found them to develop dry necrosis of the tail in specimans not kept humid. All of mine have loved feeder roaches, mainly Discoidalis and crickets. Put some really large branches or thick rope in there for climbing and a couple of shelves for laying on and basking under a good hot light. Make sure the hot spots are long, like 2 lights about 18-30" apart over a shelf to give him an area to heat himself from nose to tail rather than just a single focused light that will only heat his belly.
I'm not a big fan of monitors as pets anymore, it's very hard to give them the room they actually need but that said Rudi's are one of the better species to keep in captivity. Relatively docile and fairly calm after they settle in they can be very rewarding and if you happen to be able to find a pair or better yet a trio, they aren't too hard to breed.


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## studmuffin992 (Feb 27, 2006)

very nice mayb some nice close up pics of him, these 1s arent so clear and alil bit of care and attention and u will have a awrsum set up for it, things like sets up and stuff shud have been done b4 u take home the pet really but.....i suppose that dont always happen nice pic up anyways keep us up dated Paul


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## smokinbubbles (Mar 25, 2005)

:laugh: guys thanks for all the advise but i have been keepin reptiles for over 16 years and this guy i have had sense he was a baby. so i mean i guess i doin somethin right? i just took out some big branches from his home just the other day casue he didn't like em but i did like the idea of the hanging ropes in there for him to climb on. the home by the way is very humid. that is a live tree in his enclouser thats base stays wet fro watering causing it to get pretty humid and also his large cat litter box water bowl helps out a little bit.

J-Rod


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## KINGofKINGS (Jul 24, 2006)

looks to me like your on top of it dude


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

I am glad you have experience keeping herps, and that you have raised this guy up from a neonate, my advice was so that you have 20 years with him rather than 6-10 years with him (and breeding can be thrown out the window with the too high protein diet)...I can not count the number of lizards in general that meet an early demise due to improper diets. Snakes right behind that figure. 
Keep on keeping...but never be afraid to listen and learn my friend, over 25 years of keeping herps and I still learn *daily* and sometimes from unexpected places. I love the fact that you have a rudi, I think this species is one of the most interesting species to keep, and that head...ohh what a face..anyway.....


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## smokinbubbles (Mar 25, 2005)

CrocKeeper said:


> I am glad you have experience keeping herps, and that you have raised this guy up from a neonate, my advice was so that you have 20 years with him rather than 6-10 years with him (and breeding can be thrown out the window with the too high protein diet)...I can not count the number of lizards in general that meet an early demise due to improper diets. Snakes right behind that figure.
> Keep on keeping...but never be afraid to listen and learn my friend, over 25 years of keeping herps and I still learn *daily* and sometimes from unexpected places. I love the fact that you have a rudi, I think this species is one of the most interesting species to keep, and that head...ohh what a face..anyway.....


yeah i know what you mean man. sorry for any miss understandings. but i know what you mean with their bird like heads i would say my favorite of the monitor species next to mangroves and crocodile monitors.

J-Rod


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

smokinbubbles said:


> I am glad you have experience keeping herps, and that you have raised this guy up from a neonate, my advice was so that you have 20 years with him rather than 6-10 years with him (and breeding can be thrown out the window with the too high protein diet)...I can not count the number of lizards in general that meet an early demise due to improper diets. Snakes right behind that figure.
> Keep on keeping...but never be afraid to listen and learn my friend, over 25 years of keeping herps and I still learn *daily* and sometimes from unexpected places. I love the fact that you have a rudi, I think this species is one of the most interesting species to keep, and that head...ohh what a face..anyway.....


yeah i know what you mean man. sorry for any miss understandings. but i know what you mean with their bird like heads i would say my favorite of the monitor species next to mangroves and crocodile monitors.

J-Rod
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Glad to hear about your experience. It's nice to know about other committed keepers. I got my first rudi about 30 years ago as an "undescribed Indo species" and fell in love with them. Took a long time to actually learn enough about them to get them to thrive and finally breed. As far as favorites go they are truely in my top 3 but my heart will always belong to dumerils. Lots of people say they are too plain but their attitude, ease of care and breeding will always put them on top for me. This was Dhoumy, my favorite all time monitor. Great breeder, beautiful girl and a true house pet. She was killed by a wild male that just sucked but bred like he was getting paid for it.


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

Absolutely outstanding!








I can't rememberthe last time I saw a dumerils monitor......Any of you that have seen the little "halloween" monitors in pictures that were screamin orange and black...that is these guys..for a couple of hours..LOL...ok I overstate the quickness with which the color fades away...but not by much...

Sorry to hear she died







...I feel that pain..I lost a female salvator, and a salvadorii to males that shall we say were too zealous....


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## KINGofKINGS (Jul 24, 2006)

dude that dumerils or whatever is AMAZING! coolest pet ive seen on this board


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## studmuffin992 (Feb 27, 2006)

nice pic there


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## flyboy (May 11, 2004)

Dumerils are great varanids. The one I had experience with was really cool. He loved his water dish, lol. Plus he never hissed or showed any aggression to people.


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## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

Some what off topic but what is the best beginner monitor that grows to around three feet? I also heard that the spiny tails are also good starter monitors.


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

Timors, ackies, and kimberly rock monitors are all awesome lizards if you want small monitors.
The kimberly's are hareder to come by, and as a result normally expensive...timor and ackies are easy to find, and not generally too expensive.


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## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

CrocKeeper said:


> Timors, ackies, and kimberly rock monitors are all awesome lizards if you want small monitors.
> The kimberly's are hareder to come by, and as a result normally expensive...timor and ackies are easy to find, and not generally too expensive.


And savannahs?


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

Savannas are awesome varanids...but are bigger than the 3 feet you specified...
If you are capable of a large, heavy bodied varanid then exanthematicus is a great choice!
They start out tiny..but they do not end tiny.


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