r/MonitorLizards

Early days but here is my four month old baby ackie, Ash. I've only had her (at least I think she's a she) for just over a week now but I absolutely love her tiny self.

This is Joanna and she’s the best thing I’ve ever bought. I’ve gotten some interactive toys but was wanting to see what everyone else uses to help with their enrichment

Liora loves her little leaf panel!

Photo of Mr. Peanut relaxing and his enclosure
Sorry for the more gross topic, not sure if this is normal or not.

I'm not sure what sex my ackie is, but we refer to him as a he, incase this may be an egg laying thing.
I dont have a photo of it, but today after he had gone to the bathroom, he walked around and very quickly had a pink mass come out of his vent. He only did this once, and retracted it very quickly, and his vent seems normal. Not swollen or red. He did, after that, go to the bathroom again, but only let out some liquid.

I dont normally see him go to the bathroom. However, almost half a year ago I thought I saw something similar, but I didnt get a good look. Today I saw that clearly something came out of his vent.

Also wondering if Peanut is actually male if it could be his genitals. Is this normal bathroom behavior for Ackie monitors? Or is this an immediate vet visit?

Maybe he is impacted? He seems to be eating normally and going to the bathroom regularly. He is very energetic and sociable, and besides this visual instance, I've noticed no signs of him being off.

Husbandry info
5x2.5x3 enclosure, with 12in of substrate
172 basking on a Retes stack, 95 Warm, 72-82 cold.
Hides in all areas

Diet of Dubias, Super Worms, and crickets

Thank you for your time.

I will be getting an ackie monitor in around a month time. I just setup the enclosure for the first time. It's a 150x60x90cm/5x2x3ft enclosure.

Substrate & hides: The substrate at the front is 20cm/8inch. At the back it's 30cm/12inch. I got 3 regular hides. One hide at the warm side, one at the shaded side and a buried cork tunnel in the middle. The cork piece on the left side is also hollow so the ackie can stay (somewhat) hidden in there.

Basking spot & lighting: The rock ledge at the topleft side is the basking spot. Got two Exo Terra 50W's. Surface temp is 55-60°C, Power density 350-400. Got an Arcadia T5 for UV. UVi is 3.5-5.5 throughout the basking spot. I got a cheap LED spotlight for now that will be replaced by a small Sansi growlight. Got a Jungle Dawn LED and hardware store LED bar aswell.

Decoration: For decoration I got multiple cork branches. I used ones that split to try to odd more complexity and useable space. Added cork pieces on the background to add more climeable space on the walls and added a little swing cause I think it could be fun and enriching. Have a snakeplant and an Aloe vera for clutter and easthetics.

Further: I'm gonna try to go for a bioactive enclosure. Got ~100 Porcellionides pruinosus 'powder blue' isopods coming. And springtails. I've put some spaghnum moss under the water bowl and small cork pieces to allow for them to hydrate. Will add leaf litter aswell.

Advice? I'm quite happy with it, but feel like something is missing. I feel like it looks too empty. Do you agree or am I overthinking it? I know retes stacks are also popular. Are they highly recommended, or is what I have just as good? If not I can try to create a retes stack with leftover wood and cork.

Or maybe USARK? Either way, rude

We had house guests recently, so I haven't had a chance to take new pics of Quill hating things. To make up for it, here's a video of him attacking that coffee sticker from two weeks ago lol

I put a big patch of Reptisand in the back of Liora’s enclosure to provide some variety since Kimberleys have sand in their native habitats.

Liora is loving it today and mightily digging with her dotty T-Rex arms and getting a sandy snoot!

I’m in the process of setting up my new reptile room and i bought these 6x2x3 enclosures for my two Ackie monitors and I absolutely hate how these look

They are a massive eye sore I’m tempted to start over with something different but idk what else would work