How do you take care of a baby alligator lizard?

Answer 1

Keep in mind, monitor lizards are not for beginners and require alot of time and money to be sacraficed for them. I will not provide you a caresheet on monitors because you need to research that information on your own through reptile forums and reptile care sites. I will give you tips and guidelines though. If you are planning to get your first monitor start out with a dwarf species such as ackies, kimberly rock monitors, freckled monitors, or storr's monitors. These dwarf monitors are curious, active, and often tolerate handling. They are great first time monitors. However, they might be a little hard to find...visit a reptile expo or search reptile classifieds. You will eventually come across one of the monitors i mentioned earlier for sale. Timor and Similis monitors are also dwarf species but are very shy and skittish. They also require fairly large enclosures because they are arboreal. Don't buy them unless you want a monitor that you don't mind seeing too often and you are okay with not being able to handle them. If your dwarf monitor is thriving under your care and you're up for a new challenge look into Savannah, brown throat, peach throat, mangrove monitors. These monitors can grow over a meter long and require large enclosures. They will also end up costing a lot more than any dwarf monitor. These monitors will generally tolerate handling but you must still use precaution whenever you handle them. These monitors are equipped with razor sharp teeth, dangerous claws, and long whip-like tails. Once you have sucessfully taken care of these monitors for a long time you may want to move on to an even bigger challenge. Water monitors, nile monitors, croc monitors, black/white throat monitors can grow over 2 meters long. They will require a giganticc enclosure and you will need to devote a large amount of your money and time to them.