Varanus baritji?

[WombleHerp]

Ok so a friend of myne is giving me a 4ft fish tank with a crack in it. Since he can't keep his fish in it anymore as it won't hold water, he asked if I could put any of my reptiles in it. Being the hoarder that I am I jumped at the chance of losing more money on herps :lol:

Anyways besides the point.

I want to get a pair or trio of some sort of monitor, as I've not kept them before and find them fascinating.
I was thinking about getting some ackies, however a mate of myne suggested not to go with ackies, as they do require a fair bit of maintenance compared to others. They suggested Varanus baritji?
I just googled them and they look very similar to acanthurus. So I thought I would ask who keeps/has kept them, as to what are the pros/cons of keeping either species? What benefits are there, both long term and short term? (as regards to breeding, size, etc.)

All help is appreciated
I want to make sure I know what I am getting myself into :lol:

Thanks regards,

Nat

 

[Sdaji]

They're extremely similar. If I was writing the taxonomy, they would be subspecies, not separate species.

 

[WombleHerp]

Hmmm that is interesting, they do appear very similar. What about with the husbandry side of things? Amount of food fed etc.?


Nat

 

[Sdaji]

Hmmm that is interesting, they do appear very similar. What about with the husbandry side of things? Amount of food fed etc.?


Nat

As I said, they are extremely similar. Without splitting hairs, they are basically the same as each other with different colours. Put it this way, some localities of acanthurus are more similar to baritji than they are to other acanthurus.

 

[eipper]

Hence why acanthurus is being treated as a complex as opposed to single species....look out for a number of "new" monitors coming from both acanthurus and scalaris in the future

 

[WombleHerp]

Hmmm alright then, thankyou for those answers.

Another question now would be to ask if you could reccomend a different type of monitor than these two, ones which would house quite happily in a four foot tank?
I'm just considering my options

Nat

 

[bigguy]

Nat, I keep both Ackies and Baritji. They are exactly the same to keep. However, Baritji's are rare and expensive, whereas Ackies are common and cheap. Whoever told you Ackies are high mainaince does not have a clue. These are the easiest and best recommended to keep, specially for your 1st monitors.

The only other species that are easy to keep and that would be good to keep in that size tank would be Gillens

 

[garycahill]

Black Headed Monitors - Varanus tristis tristis, Varanus tristis orientalis?
These guys are basiclly identical to keep as Ackies.

 

[Guest]

any of the smaller monitors like Gillens, Coudolineatus, Brevicauda, Eremius, Semiremex, Primordius, Storri, etc would suit that sized tank but they all need quite a bit of attention, I think the ackies are probably the most laid back and require maybe not less but easier maintenance than the others they can become quite tame and dont mind being handled as much as the other smaller species too! alot of the smaller monitors can be quite flighty and shy and some are easily stressed! Gillens and Storri are fairly common and availiable in captivity and sometimes Brevicauda

 

[WombleHerp]

Nat, I keep both Ackies and Baritji. They are exactly the same to keep. However, Baritji's are rare and expensive, whereas Ackies are common and cheap. Whoever told you Ackies are high mainaince does not have a clue. These are the easiest and best recommended to keep, specially for your 1st monitors.

The only other species that are easy to keep and that would be good to keep in that size tank would be Gillens

I am thinking I probably mis-understood what my mate was putting across to me. They are highly experienced with reptiles, and I will always go to them first for advice.
I was also looking at Gillens, they are another interesting choice...

I guess I'll just have to research it a bit more, hmmm

:|

 

[WombleHerp]

any of the smaller monitors like Gillens, Coudolineatus, Brevicauda, Eremius, Semiremex, Primordius, Storri, etc would suit that sized tank but they all need quite a bit of attention, I think the ackies are probably the most laid back and require maybe not less but easier maintenance than the others they can become quite tame and dont mind being handled as much as the other smaller species too! alot of the smaller monitors can be quite flighty and shy and some are easily stressed! Gillens and Storri are fairly common and availiable in captivity and sometimes Brevicauda

Brevicauda are cute little guys! I probably want something a bit bigger then them though.

 

[Guest]

cheack out the pilbara form of ackies they have some nice colours they arn't too big or too small and for monitors are probably the most basic to keep! if you were going to step up to the Tristis size monitors take a look at the Scalaris group I keep Scalaris pellewensis and their a great choice if you have the room for them when they get older as tristis are fairly flighty and can be quite shy

 

[WombleHerp]

Nahh, I'm not looking at making any pits just yet, so I'll probably stick to tank size monitors for now
Although I would like some mertons water monitors one day, they are amazing in my opinion

Thanks for all your replies everyone,

Nat