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#1125720
Rfm
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 Selling Ackie Monitors.
Something has come up and my pair of red ackies has to go. There about 2 years old, and I keep them seperate so they havent bread yet. There about 2 1/2 years old, and the happiest lizards ive ever seen. Theyre really energetic and eat great. I currently feed them 30 crickets / week. Its not alot, actually its under what they should be fed but I didnt want them to get too big. If you have any questions feel free to email me at , thanks and have a great day!
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01/08/07 11:00pm
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#1125785
789
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Message To: Rfm In reference to Message Id: 1125720
Selling Ackie Monitors.
Email is taken away. I want an ackie. Was really wanting a pair. Your email is taken away. I will feed them and take proper care of them. Send me a message and let me know. Thanks
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01/08/07 11:56pm
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#1126108
Rfm
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Message To: 789 In reference to Message Id: 1125785
Selling Ackie Monitors.
my email is sorry for inconvenience
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01/09/07 10:49am
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#1126166
789
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Message To: Rfm In reference to Message Id: 1126108
Selling Ackie Monitors.
I had sent you a private message on the forum here. It took away the email again as you are not supposed to post it. It is set up to strip out email addresses. Check your private messages on this forum.
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01/09/07 11:53am
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#1128523
Acken
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Message To: 789 In reference to Message Id: 1126166
Selling Ackie Monitors.
You make me sick. Under feeding a captive animal so they stay "small" let me guess, they didnt and thats why your selling them. I really hope you never get any other reptiles, dont try and starve them so they can better fit your needs, you should have gotten a gecko if you want something small. I would never buy any of your ackies, there growth is probably permanently stunted and they will never live a long and happy life.
The size comes with the lizard, dont force it to stay small by denying them food. You dont see people with children, going "Timmys so cute! I think Ill starve him so he stays a kid forever!" Really why didnt you just chose a smaller animal! Did you really think "Gee Wiz! Ackies are cool but they grow all the way to 2 feet, well instead of gettin that house gecko that will love my 20 gallon tank I will just not feed my ackies, Ya thats it! Every one knows that a hungry animal makes a great companion!" I have a good idea for you why dont you starve your do so it stays a puppy?
You need to understand that reptiles just dont care, they are unforgiving animals, they dont care if your big small purple, or tall they want to bask, explore and of course eat, by denying them of these you are creating an animal that is terribly unhealthy. Underfeeding causes early death, stress, and they simply cant function.
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01/10/07 11:10pm
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#1131427
Rfm
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Message To: Acken In reference to Message Id: 1128523
Selling Ackie Monitors.
I dont starve them, ACTUALLY. Ackies are already rather small by nature, and there pretty thick. Thickness is what judges a lizards health. I am selling them because I have to move not because im trying to get rid of them. If i wanted money for them I wouldnt have considered giving them away for free to my friend. I am seeing if there are some people in NY that are willing to buy them to help me financcially. If i had the choice I would keep these guys. They have been the most interesting of lizards I have ever seen, and I wouldnt give them up unless I had to.
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01/13/07 12:08pm
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#1131431
Rfm
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Message To: Rfm In reference to Message Id: 1131427
Selling Ackie Monitors.
Also I might add that, even if I overfed them the size of their enclosure would have a huge part in their growth. Keeping them healthy and growing them are different.
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01/13/07 12:10pm
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#1131458
Slygecko
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Message To: Rfm In reference to Message Id: 1131431
Selling Ackie Monitors.
Are you saying that in addition to underfeeding them (was it 30 crix a week total or for each?), you limit their growth by the size of their cage? ie you keep them in too small a cage? Keeping them healthy and allowing them to grow ARE NOT DIFFERENT. Allowing them healthy, normal growth is what is right.
I sincerely hope you get them to someone with decent reptile experience. If you need help, feel free to PM me, as I am in NY also and could help you out.
~ Nick
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01/13/07 12:25pm
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#1131479
Rfm
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Message To: Slygecko In reference to Message Id: 1131458
Selling Ackie Monitors.
no no what I was saying is, that even if theyre healthy they may be small because of a cage size. I was jsut saying that if you find a small lizard that doesnt neccesarily mean that there unhealthy. Although the size may cause them stress. I just recently put them together in a very tall 55- gallon (may be 60) they have plenty of room to run around and about 1 foot of dirt to dig in. They were raised most of the time I had them seperatly in 20 gallon tanks.
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01/13/07 12:48pm
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#1131481
Rfm
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Message To: Rfm In reference to Message Id: 1131479
Selling Ackie Monitors.
I do appreciate your offer for help though slygecko was nice of you
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01/13/07 12:49pm
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#1132954
Field_Herper
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Message To: Rfm In reference to Message Id: 1125720
I agree, you make me sick...
You should be feeding those animals as much as they will eat. Sure, if they are kept at lower temperatures in a small cage, they will stay fat if fed less amounts of food. But, if they are in a large cage with access to good temperature options, they will eat up to 20 crickets daily (each). The growth rate of your lizard is a large indicator of how successful your husbandry techniques are. Yours are not growing because you are feeding them less than optimal amounts of food and keeping them in an eternal state of brumation. Thus, they will eat less than is normal for ackies, stay fat, and show little to no growth.
Ackies can reach upwards of 18 inches in a year, if in halfway decent conditions. But, if I read right, yours are 2 and a half years old and still very small (small enough to keep the pair in a 55 gallon tank). At that age, they should be over 2 feet long and in AT LEAST a 4x2x2 cage. In fact, the record size of an ackie in the wild is around 3 feet (I have seen pictures of Frank Retes holding one). If conditions in captivity were ideal, they would be reaching these sizes in less than 2 years of age.
Anyway, you say that your animals are healthy at eating 30 crickets per week. You state that they are very small at over 2 years of age, and that this is healthy. Hmmmm...
All I am saying is, maybe you should review everything in your husbandry. Oh, and I also wanted to state that reptiles will still continue to grow no matter the cage size (if they have access to proper temperatures and given enough food). I thought that nobody still believed in that old wifes tale.
Ryan
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01/14/07 02:37pm
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#1133072
Rfm
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Message To: Field_Herper In reference to Message Id: 1132954
I agree, you make me sick...
hi field herper. thansk for all of your insight, and help. There current sizes are (guessing here) femalie 1 foot 2 inches, and the male is 1 foot 6 inches. the male is much fatter than the girl (not an unhealthy fat).
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01/14/07 04:12pm
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#1133135
Field_Herper
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Message To: Rfm In reference to Message Id: 1133072
You are welcome, but...
That is pretty dang small for that age. My animals are both about a year old (born a month or two apart), and Id say the size of my largest animal (presumably female) is about 17-18 inches, the other an inch or two smaller. Mine definitely arent as large as I would like them to be at this point in time, and I think that this is because they both barely ate at times. I am assuming that they were stressed out from my many attempts at substrate mixes. I, not even think about these stresses, barely gave them any time to acclimate to their essentially new setup. Only a week or two into a new substrate mix, and then I was changing it again. Now, after leaving them on a mix for several weeks, they are both eating pretty well and have a much better weight (another time that I left the setup alone for a week or two and started witnessing breeding, but she should have laid them by now so I think that she reabsorbed them).
What are your temperatures like?
You should have a high basking temp (surface temp) from, lets say, 130- 200 degrees F (again, this is SURFACE temperatures, NOT AIR temperatures). Frank Retes has said something to this effect (the temperature may have been a few degrees difference): "Anything over 165 degrees is pretty much wasted electricity, but the animals will use them and it wont cause any harm." Your air warmest air temperatures should be in the high 80s to the low 90s.
Your other cage temperatures should range from the above mentioned temperatures to down into the 60s. It could go even lower, as long as they have the access to everything from those hot temperatures down. This allows the animals to choose what they need most from a wide range, rather than a short range of temperatures that many keepers provide. You could even greater your basking options by making some RETES stacks (look on the Pro Exotics website for ideas). The same options and gradients apply to humidity. It should be very moist in some areas, and very dry in others (a soil helps accomplish this, as you already have in there).
Anyway, get your cage set up well for now, and make sure the person that you give them to does the same.
By the way, are we talking about reds or yellows? I may be interested in taking them, as long as you can provide some picture proof that they are reasonably healthy (aside from the stunted growth, of course).
Ryan
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01/14/07 05:06pm
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#1133137
Field_Herper
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Message To: Field_Herper In reference to Message Id: 1133135
You are welcome, but...
Oops, never mind. I read the first post again and found that they were reds.
Ryan
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01/14/07 05:07pm
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#1133152
Field_Herper
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Message To: Field_Herper In reference to Message Id: 1133137
You are welcome, but...
Sorry, now I re-read the entire thread and saw that you are looking to give them away locally. If you were willing to ship them I might be interested (again, with picture proof).
Ryan
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01/14/07 05:17pm
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#1165359
Tatsu86
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Message To: Field_Herper In reference to Message Id: 1133152
ifm not an expert... ifm actually only on this forum because ifve become interested in ackies latly and i want to learn more about them. Anyways... I believe that size is not small for red ackies at that age... i know field herper noted that they were reds and said "nvm." I thought it was the yellows that got to two feet+. Anyways... just wanted to say people shouldnt be so quick to point fingers. I mean even if someone is doing something wrong you can politly correct them as opposed to telling them how wrong and horrible of people they are. Everyone has different levels of knowledge and everyonefs constantly learning. Itfs a much better enviornment if people keep this in mind and help each other, rather than going on witchhunts for people who might not be doing things right out ignorance or misinformation. In the long run we all love our animals and want whatfs best for them.
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02/08/07 02:43am
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#1166111
Acken
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Message To: Tatsu86 In reference to Message Id: 1165359
An ackie has the potential to become full grown and even breed at a year old, according to several keepers, including Frank Retes. This person is abusing and improperly keeping ackies, in a small cage and little food, my 6 month old ackie, that Ive only had for 1 month, can eat 2-3 times that in a week. If you do get ackies, and keep them like this person, and there are the same size, I would consider you severe cruelty and arrogant. Research ackies, read the post of other experience keepers, use your best judgment, offer as many choices to the animal as possible and simply "Heat-um and Feed-um!"
Brandon
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02/08/07 07:06pm
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