I’m so glad to see a video with a grown adult man sitting in this enclosure. It gave me a great reference for how large it is; as well as being hilarious, lol.
Sabzi approves 🦎! Looks great! Down the road you if you ever decide to remodel you may want wish to mount some cork panels to the walls! It allows the tree monitor to use the full scope to the enclosure to climb :). Great build! 👌🏼
Hey Clint, In the interest of sharing knowledge to best keep our animals I would like to outline a few things that should be done to improve this enclosure for your Green Tree Monitor. This should also help anyone else that may be interested in keeping them. We are all learning and growing and I hope it is appreciated that I share my knowledge here with your viewers. -The walls should be covered with cork panels to exponentially increase the available climbing space. Alternatively you can create a DIY Background that is climbable using a variety of techniques which is what I personally do for my Tree Monitor enclosures. - More branches/vines/structures to really fill in a lot of that open space is needed too. You want to create a layered climbing area throughout the enclosure to utilize the space. This will create more options for the animal to access and regulate itself better for temperature, humidity levels, Light (UVB) etc. -The size of the enclosure is ok for now if you do the above changes to expand the usable space. But overall I would recommend that once your monitor is closer to being full grown that a larger enclosure is needed. I dislike giving minimum sizes because it encourages people to do the minimum. My own setup is 6ft Tall, 5ft wide, 2.5 ft deep and I want to build an even larger one in future because I can see the benefit in doing so (this is for a pair of Varanus macraei for clarity but the conclusion is the same). -If that enclosure has compressed wood panels (was not clear on this?) you need to seal the edges with silicone or it will most definitely rot at some point due to the water spraying that needs to be done to maintain the required humidity levels for Tree Monitors. - Tree monitors are great at destroying plants! Something I have learnt through the pain of Tree Monitor claws is that some of the best plants to use are ficus species! In my set up I have found Ficus benjamina (weeping fig) and Ficus binnendijkii 'Alii' (Bamboo ficus) to be some of the best. They can withstand a bit more of the traffic of the monitors as they grow back quite quickly too. Best of luck with your Tree Monitor!
This is how you approach care advice as a professional. You're polite, descriptive, and clearly informed. Take note, hobbyists. Much appreciated, Spectrum Vivaria.
On top of everything above, I'm extremely concerned about humidity. - Tree monitors need R/H level to generally be >80%. - Clint doesn't live where this monitors enclosure is. - There is no automatic misting system that I can see. - Huge mesh is going to let out a LOT of humidity/heat. - Walls look paper thin. Humidity is easier to manage in a space that retains heat well. Paper thin PVC isn't going to hold heat at all. Without even mentioning all the other problems with the vivarium, which just isn't suitable for a Tree Monitor. This video has stressed me out so much, other people are going to view this and think this is an adequate setup for an adult tree monitor. edit: I just looked at the price for this enclosure. $550 dollars? Insane amount of money for what you get.
@@ayyylma0 I have one for my Solomon island skink and it does fine for humidity and temps. It comes with a piece of acrylic to put over the screen top in case you need higher humidity. I do think he should get a misting system in there if he doesn’t have one and I don’t know enough about this species to know if it’s enough space or anything but I just wanted to let you know it’s not as bad as you think humidity-wise. I actually quite like mine although it was a bit of a pain to put together
I have tried keeping humans in this, it’s ok for newborn humans however once they get a few years old they will start to ask for more space. You would really want an enclosure about twice their height. You also want enough space for them to jump plus a few feet. You also probably want to get them captive born. However they are common so you CAN get them wild caught, and if you do I recommend only catching the babies as they will not put up a fight, and they won’t try to run away,
"You look like you're clearing out the rectum of a steer" I may die, oh my gods Amazing enclosure build! Definitely a dream enclosure with a dream lizard!
Kevin would be very impressed. Your little monitor is got slow relaxed tongue licks. His pupils are perfectly happy. I pay attention to this stuff. Congratulations on this amazing little baby
I saw tree monitors at a zoo and fell in love with them, I want one. I don't know why I find then so adorable. Clumsy things with long nails and curly tails.
It's nice to see that they seem to take the feedback all the reptile content creators had made in the first few rounds of reviews and fixed all the issues instead of just continuing selling them as they were before.
I love zen habitats because they really care about making good quality but affordable enclosures and they also have great customer service! I do recommend adding a lock on the sliding doors for any tricky reptiles lol
As someone who works on cars a lot those nub ends on zip ties can be very painful to run along your skin. What I like to do is to try and put them in a location more out of the way. You can usually spin the zip tie around after locking it down. That way no lizards randomly run one of those along their belly while climbing over it.
What are your thoughts on peat moss, Clint? As far as I know, it's not renewable (within any reasonable amount of time) and its harvesting is disastrous for the environments it's taken from.
Clint something I learned with making soil mix for my tegu is paver sand isnt necessarily safe for a soil mixture for reptiles, play sand is the way to go because it has a different grain structure that prevents it from clumping causing compaction.
You, HANDS DOWN make some of the best content on youtube. Wonderful human, fantastic presentations, addicting personality, excessively helpful information. 11/10 would recommend to a stinkin rad reptile.
Interior decorating of enclosures got to be one of the most relaxing things ever to do, and I've only ever done for invertebrates so far since I don't have room for reptiles yet. can't wait to get there
Is there any fertilizer in those potted plants? Would it be best to rinse the soil from the roots and then plant them? I've never made a bioactive setup before I'm just curious. Excellent enclosure.
Plexiglass (acrylic) sort of sucks for keeping sharp clawed animals but I completely understand its value price point. I would by this setup of shipping to my country wasn't cost prohibitive and if it was glass instead. Even with glass, I do my best to avoid perlite as I found it hazes anything that once was transparent. Play sand, because it is mechanically rounded seems to do well to not scratch everything but is a good way to maintain decent draining soil mixes. Cheers, Clint!
for terrariums this size I really love monstera deliciosa, it grows incredibly fast and has nice big leaves that give the setup this look, like a small part of a real sized forest, while a lot of smaller plants look more like a miniature forest-model to me
Clint you are so awesome, I ended up with my first reptiles which is a beautiful crested and leopard gecko because of your videos, and im completely in love with reptiles and the reptilian world. I thank you Clint for all your wonderful videos, they're awesome..Please keep them coming there just great 👍. Thank you again.
I was all ready to complain about the price. I have seen small enclosures go for $2000+. But they have that one for $549 (free shipping too). That's only a little more than what my mother paid for a few of her larger aquariums. It takes a LOT to impress me and I am impressed.
Instead of using lava rock for your drainage layer, try using pond filter media(matala), it cuts to size easy, and is much lighter. Weight will always be an issue in larger enclosures.
I got the 4 x 2 x 18in pvc and they have taken most of the things improved for this one and improved that one with most of them other than the door thing.
Hey Clint, have you ever considered using a garden hose with reptile safe paint, to replicate a shaky vine? I think it would be perfect because since it’s shaky it’s great enrichment for the green tree monitor because it’ll really have to think about where it will jump too next.
Hi Clint! Peat Moss is a non-renewable resource, right? Do you think it be better to use something like coco fiber on builds? Or maybe to mix in a different sort of dried moss? Thank you for the great content!
Absolutely loved this enclosure build! How on Earth did you move the enclosure out of the center of the reptile room? Itty bitty wheels? Big honkin invisible towel? Magic?
I can’t even begin to explain how happy i was when i saw you posted a video of this enclosure. There are no other review videos for this particular enclosure! I’ve been looking at this exact one for about a month now wondering how it would hold up for my chinese water dragon. Typically that species would need a taller enclosure but she has an old fracture that healed wrong so she’s not the best climber. I was looking for a four foot enclosure because i thought it would suffice given her situation. This is the one i keep coming back to. Thank you so much for the review! It’s definitely helped me make the decision!!
I want to know how many takes it took to film that very first opening scene with Clint inside the enclosure. I can already just imagine you guys cracking up and having to do it over and over again because it's just funny. I'm sure hope you put together a blooper video for us clip your funny enough already but I think a blooper video it just be the perfect way to end the old year and slither into the new one!🦖🐊🐸🦜🦢🕷🦟🦈🦎🐍🐲🐉🦠
Very interesting and helpful! Question: if someone wants an area on the bottom of the tank, say 12-18 inches wide and about 4 inches deep, on one side, to be a water feature for a semi-aquatic species, is this construction strong and water-tight enough to hold it? Or would they have to take extra steps to seal and/or reinforce the water area? The beautiful green monitor seemed to enjoy exploring the new digs. They seem so alert and aware compared to many non-monitor lizard species, I suspect their brain structure is different. Interestingly, bird brain structure was found a few years back to be fundamentally different from mammals’, with smaller, very densely packed neurons. It begins to explain why some birds, like crows and parrots, can be so intelligent with such small brains. Maybe smart monitors have more brain cells or greater connectivity than more stolid lizard species. I wondered if you had heard anything about research into why monitors can be so smart compared to other lizards.
The only thing I miss are valves in the lower part so that the air does not become stagnant. I'll check if they send to Europe because it's an interesting cage. Really good videos keep up the good work.
Look for Neoregalia liliputiana as a bromeliad for smaller enclosures. A cool thing about them beyond their small size is that the flowers are red, white, and blue!
Love the enclosure! Planting enclosures is so much fun. The plumosa fern is also known as an "asparagus fern" and it looks like your ground cover plant is a Soleirolia which is a popular alternative but I find less hardy than selaginella spike moss.
Someday, could you do a build for a desert species such as the chuckwalla or uromastyx? I would love your opinions on what plants to use. Josh's frogs have some desert plants I'd like to try. And I'd like to see some non-sand based substrate ideas. Desert does not equal sand.
Loved the video. Don't know anything about tree monitors beside what I have seen on video. The bromeliads actually do better without a pot, just use some sphagnum (not peat) and wire it onto the wood; the roots will eventually attach to the wood. Probably the philodendron can also go in a "pot" made of molded sphagnum moss--they make air roots too, but not sure. I would only worry if there is any possibility of your lizard getting its head between two lines or wires and getting stuck. You know how animals manage to do the craziest stuff.
