# Mertens Water Monitors



## m.punja (Feb 11, 2009)

Just wondering what the requirements were to keeping and breed water monitors. Anyone got any pics of set ups or any stories to share or even some links to care sheets would be appreciated. 

Cheers

Mark


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## missllama (Feb 11, 2009)

i dont have any pics on my laptop of ours...
but the first night we got him he escaped, i didnt realise this the next morning i go in the room and there he is asleep on the lid of his enclosure!
ours loves climbing and escaping things lol real escape artist!!

i dont no if all mertens are like that but ours sure is

he spends alot of time swimming aorund and sometimes have honestly thought he is dead in the water because of how stil he sits in there

id reccomend them for anyone as a great rep to keep 

rick walker breeds some really nice ones thats where ours came from


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## m.punja (Feb 11, 2009)

I heard they are good fun to keep and watch


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## sweetangel (Feb 11, 2009)

i'm thinking of getting some soon... well not till next year.

So i too am looking forward to hearing from anyone else who keeps the little fellas 

i was wondering if you can keep them outdoors in the sydney area??


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## missllama (Feb 11, 2009)

yea i reckon any reptile that swims etc is fun to watch, and i love how the monitors walk around the movement etc just looks funny and they are really interesting

deff reccomended by me!


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## m.punja (Feb 11, 2009)

any idea how to contact rick?


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## Jonno from ERD (Feb 11, 2009)

Hey mate,

cruester (Troy someone...can't remember his last name) from Sydney breeds some very trick WA ones. I was hoping to grab some of his this season but circumstances prevailed against me.


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## m.punja (Feb 11, 2009)

cool, thanks for that jonno, any chance your could pm me some details for me to contact him?


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## ad (Feb 11, 2009)

Here are a couple of pics 
Cheers
Adam


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## m.punja (Feb 11, 2009)

nice, thanks ad, can anyone show some set ups or go into a little detail on how they keep and look after their mertens?


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## Aslan (Feb 12, 2009)

Jonno from ERD said:


> cruester (Troy someone...can't remember his last name) from Sydney breeds some very trick WA ones. I was hoping to grab some of his this season but circumstances prevailed against me.


 
*Punj* - His name is Troy Martin - owns and runs The Reptile Shop at Narellan.

Brilliant breeder with a fantastic collection of many lizards.

You can contact him at the shop on *(02) 4647 1141*

Troy's Mertens are far and away the best I have seen with very bright orange colouration as juveniles. I am aiming to pick some up in the not too distant future and they will be coming from Troy...


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## Maree (Mar 4, 2009)

One pic is of one a clutch I bred in 2007 and the other is of the mother.
This outside cage has a large filtered pond about 6 x 4 x 1' The boxes are hide boxes filled with straw where they sleep and hide over winter. As I live in Brisbane, I don't add any heating.
Their diet is nearly entirely mice but there are also yabbies in the pond which the mertons will hunt for and catch. They have depleted the pond of goldfish which I buy and add once a year.
Young ones I keep inside in an old aquarium, heated with a small plastic container of water, big enough to swim in, small enough to lift out by hand and empty. Over winter, I use an aquarium heater to keep the water tepidly warm. The young ones are raised on bait fish and chopped chicken with calcium added. They will also eat a bit of beef heart but rarely show a lot of interest crickets though I have seen them eat one or two. The bait fish is their favourite.
I just put another clutch in the incubator 2 days ago of 13 eggs so hopefully will raise a few more at the end of the year.
The cage has worked really well but if I was going to build another I would leave more room in the sunny end because there isnt a lot of space for the female to burrow to lay eggs there. The other end is completely covered and rainproofed because thats the direction from where the storms blow hardest.
I think the pond is an essential part of keeping Mertons. If you can't give them good water to swim in, I don't think you should really be keeping them.


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## m.punja (Mar 4, 2009)

Thanks a lot Maree, that write up was a great read. If you live in Vic please PM me about your eggs.


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## Perko (Mar 5, 2009)

Maree said:


> View attachment 82164
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> View attachment 82166
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## richardsc (Mar 26, 2009)

i have kimberley mertons from troy and the typical nt/qld variety,hopefully the nts will breed very soon,ill keep u posted pung


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## i_like_it (Mar 26, 2009)

here is a pic of my setup for my juvie. i want to change to a 6 foot fish tank, with water covering the entire bottom and then some turtle docks or maybe silicon a large ledge area as he spends most of his time in or above the water. he has a bit of shed on top of his head in the pic with the fish. the water in the tank is heated.


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## sweetangel (Mar 26, 2009)

awww what a cutie!
so cant wait to get one!


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## i_like_it (Mar 26, 2009)

about every two weeks i chuck in 10 goldfish (10 for $10:lol and he goes ape chasing them but they usually only last a few days before he gobbles them all up:|. I also give him dusted meat like roo mince or chicken, he still chases and eats crickets but they don't do too much to fill him up at his stage. 

as for the setup, i use sugar cane mulch as the substrate as it is dirt cheap:lol: and if you use sand or pellets it all ends up in the water, where as sugar mulch is easy to scoop out of the water. 35 degrees in the hot end bout 25 in the cool end. he also burrows under the mulch to sleep where ever he wants, so no need for hides but i have a big log in there which works as a hide. ummmmm. oh i used to have plants and stuff in the water but it gets destroyed every time he chases fish :cry:. thats about all i can think of for the moment.


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## i_like_it (Mar 26, 2009)

and my mertens puffs up, hisses, tail whips, and runs really quick when i try to pick it up. not a handler, i don't know how other people have gone with handling theirs though.


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