Thanks, so far of what I watched it really helped me out. I’ve been wanting to get an ackie for a while now and I haven’t got any info like this from Clint or others. I really appreciate it! Keep up the good work!
19:15 recently my tiger salamander passed away and what you mention here really remembers me of her. She used to be one lazy ass terrible hunter. But when I slid the chair in front of her tank and started dusting the crickets she knew it was time and she rushed as fast as she could towards the glass doors. Sometimes she would even try to climb it and kinda stand on just her hind legs whilst leaning on the glass. For such a small animal she had a lot of personality and I really enjoyed her company for the half of my life. Rn I am 20 and I just got the green light for an Ackie monitor and I can't wait to build something meaningfull with such an intelligent animal. I really adore their appearance and their curiosity. Your video's really help me calm down a bit until I get the animal because I am the type of person to be unable to sleep out of excitement even at the age of 20. And when watching your video's before bed I atleast get to see an Ackie being a silly Ackie for the time being when I don't have my own little guy to watch. Your experience and advice is worth a lot to me, and I've learned a ton. Thank you for sharing all these things to make sure people know what to expect from an Ackie. I've done so much research and the nineth of October I am finally getting a cage and lights and all other necessities like substrate and hardscape, new calcium and a longer feeding tong. Excited!! Cheers from the Netherlands! (p.s. sorry for my bad English I hope I didn't make too many spelling errors.)
the best way i found when taming ackie monitors, as well as savanna monitors, is to have their enclosures directly next to where you spend most of your free time at home. i am a movie watcher/gamer when i have nothing planned so i had their enclosures by my desk for weeks so they constantly saw me at close range and it did the trick between 2 weeks to a month. my most recent ackie Burt Gummer was tamed from the get go it seemed. 2 months old and already wanted to leave his cage and crawl all over me and cuddle under my shirt. same with bertha my female savanna monitor to this day will still try to crawl into my shirt (which doesnt work because she is about 3+ feet now) you legit want them to get used to you being around them for the first 2-4 weeks with minimal interaction within their cage aside from spot cleaning and feeding. then you slowly start putting your hand in the cage, and let it stay there for a few moments and if they dont flee you can slowly move it towards them and try to touch them softly. and repeat every day or so (unless the ackie goes into burrow mode for several days) in that case then you just do it slowly. my other ackie sammy she hated me for a while. but i would my socks in her cage where she would normally bask and nap so she would get used to my scent in areas she liked. this did the trick and eventually when i did tong feeding i would trick her to walk on my arm to get the dubia roaches and eventually would let me pick her up and hold her. every single ackie and reptile are different even at a individual level. burt gummer the ackie was broen fearless of humans and would come to me barely past 2 months old, while others it took me months to tame down. you need to be patient and understand the chances that your animal might not like people no matter what you do and might be just a visual animal you can never interact with. its the reason i tell people to NOT get a savanna monitor when they come over and see my 3 foot and 4.5 food sav's snuggling with me on the couch watching SYFY channel monster movies. because they dont understand the work it took to get them to be basically puppies. and for ackies i try to tell people that these mother fuckers will remember everything you do, so if you are doing it wrong they will never forgive or forget easily. and are very flighty but if you do the work and do it correctly, you will get ackies that are like bearded dragons (burt is up against my neck right now doing the beardie wiggle as an ackie) but with all that above in mind.... be prepared for the chance that your new ackie might never like being held and you will have to enjoy your animal from a distance. however a good trick is to use food to tame down really any monitor to some degree. ackies love food and you can get them used to you real quick when they put 2 and 2 together than you are the bringer of food.
Couldn't have said it better myself my friend. My Ackie is now 2 years of age. You should check 9ut some of my more recent videos so you can see how his trust has grown.
Your videos have helped so much already with my first ackie, he seemed nervous and hid away all the time when we brought him home into our reptile room but I carried on sitting by him and maintaining the vivarium whenever needed and now he comes to the glass and is out throughout the day, he’s started storming over to my hand and stopping just short of my hand and watching completely still but not licking or climbing on me as of yet, he seems to freeze at first whilst I’m in the vivarium until he gets curious , taking it slow but progress I think 🤷🏼♂️
I think you doing great just give it time with each interaction your ackie will ponder over the previous interaction. With time your Ackie will become more comfortable with your presence. Also thank you for your support you have no idea how much this motivates me.
I have gotten to the point where my ackie lets me pet his back and neck as much as I want which is amazing. I only had him for 3 months and I got him when he was 9 weeks old. He does freak out when I really try and pick him up still so I'll just wait for his curiosity to really kick in
I just bought a beautiful ackie and been watching all your videos which are awesome. Question I have is the guy i bought him from at a reptile show said its okay to use cypress mulch as bedding but thats not what I’m seeing on TH-cam at all. By the way he’s an adult animal and looks a little on the heavy side. I watched another video on TH-cam where someone uses reptisoil which i think i am going to now change my mulch to the reptisoil which is sand, peat moss, and soil mix. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks so much.
I use to use reptisoil. It's very loose and fine. Drys easily when exposed to high temps in a Ackie enclosure. A cheaper and better substrate is use a Organic pesticide and fertilizer free top soil and mix 50 50 with washed play sand. That is the what I am currently using and they have that at every home depot and lowes around. I would not use mulch with Ackies hurts they're feet. As far as diet do only insects and if you want the lean out the animal feed the exclusively on dubia roaches, grasshopper crickets. Got light on the worms because they have more fat. Good exclusivly on an Insects Diet.. Feed 3 days a week.
@@Scales13 thanks man I appreciate your help. I found a bag at Home Depot from Scott’s that has peat moss, Spagnum moss, and organic matter but I’m just not sure if this is completely safe to use mixed with play sand.
Yes they will. They are active little animals though. Mine will sit on my shoulder momentarily then move to the top of my head, the crawl down my back etc. They don't stay still for long periods of time like bearded dragons.
Does your bride interact with Thunder at all? I’m wondering how they would be with multiple people. One at a time but three or four people. Would they get used to each person or are they one person kinda animals?
Mine only trust me for now. If I slowly introduce more people while I handle on a consistent basis I think he can loose more fear of people in general but for now he's bonded with me.
If you want to see a well behaved Savanah watch the Animal1 Guy's channel. He also does rescues of surrendered reptiles.Snakes, lizards, and tirtles/tortoises. He plays tug-o-war with his savanah as well as takes it for walks in warm weather on a cat /smalll dog harness and leash.
I’m pretty lucky, my ackie came onto me again but this time he pooped on my shirt twice and bit me, I don’t think the bite is a good thing but it hurt. He seems a little more curious about me after that because the next day he was on the glass of the enclosure
@@Mariofredx did you leave the enclosure open? If not dont worry they are masters of hide and seeks I've searched for mine a few time swore he escaped then next morning he pops up like nothing.
Scales13 I saw him in the morning, but I came home and he wasn’t there so I just let him be but I cane to check if his was in one of the hiding spots. So if they can hide very well are they in the substrate?
My achie got a thermometer stuck on his back and i had to pick him up to get it off. He darted away after that and I felt so bad for him😂 he was alright tho
The thermometer was on a wall were he could climb, kind of like a plastic rock thing, he got curious and decided it would be a good idea to climb on it, so he fell with it and got it stuck on his back
Scales13 it was actually kind of scary. He’s bonded pretty quickly and I was worried that this would be a setback. First thing I did was spray some water on it hoping to neutralize the adhesive. This actually worked so well that it came off in less than minute. Later in the day I tong fed him a big grasshopper so hopefully it has gotten over it. Going to replace all of the sensors like that really soon.
@@Streamer14 no worries my friend things happen consistency is key. I can't say they ive never startled thunder or have never made a mistake. As long as you consistency approach on your monitors terms and build trust they get over mishaps quicker and quicker each time. Atleast in my personal experience.
Great video my friend as always, Cody boyd why disrespect a person given out good advice, your not even a breeder a micky mouse breeder at best you haven't the knowledge are experience to judge other's trust me I will school's you, this is why you are removed from most ackie groups, multiple breeding time and time again, very sad individual mahuk 🇬🇧
Nope he was only a year old when I made this the grow fast the first 2 to 3 years. Check out some of the more recent videos you'll see hes much bigger.
I watch your videos before bed, and then I dream of my future with my ack man. Very informative and therapeutic keep the videos coming man!
No problem. I will have more coming soon.
Thanks, so far of what I watched it really helped me out. I’ve been wanting to get an ackie for a while now and I haven’t got any info like this from Clint or others. I really appreciate it! Keep up the good work!
Awesome glad this video helped. I watched it like 5 times before uploading just to see I'd I made to many mistakes.
19:15 recently my tiger salamander passed away and what you mention here really remembers me of her.
She used to be one lazy ass terrible hunter.
But when I slid the chair in front of her tank and started dusting the crickets she knew it was time and she rushed as fast as she could towards the glass doors.
Sometimes she would even try to climb it and kinda stand on just her hind legs whilst leaning on the glass.
For such a small animal she had a lot of personality and I really enjoyed her company for the half of my life.
Rn I am 20 and I just got the green light for an Ackie monitor and I can't wait to build something meaningfull with such an intelligent animal.
I really adore their appearance and their curiosity.
Your video's really help me calm down a bit until I get the animal because I am the type of person to be unable to sleep out of excitement even at the age of 20.
And when watching your video's before bed I atleast get to see an Ackie being a silly Ackie for the time being when I don't have my own little guy to watch.
Your experience and advice is worth a lot to me, and I've learned a ton.
Thank you for sharing all these things to make sure people know what to expect from an Ackie.
I've done so much research and the nineth of October I am finally getting a cage and lights and all other necessities like substrate and hardscape, new calcium and a longer feeding tong.
Excited!!
Cheers from the Netherlands!
(p.s. sorry for my bad English I hope I didn't make too many spelling errors.)
This warms my heart.thabk you for watching more to come shortly.
One of the best channels on TH-cam for ackie monitor care.
Thank you my friend
I have 2 tamed Ackies and your explanation is great and will help all beginers.. Great video
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the compliment especially from an experienced keeper.
Getting my ackie in about 3 months from now, really excited :D
Thanks for the informative videos, really helpful and i appriciate it :D
No problem glad some of this info can help. I just gotta work on getting my thoughts a little more organized
Did you get it
Great advice. Picked up my first ackie yesterday. Hes around 5 years old. I'm looking forward to working with him and becoming 'friends' 🙂
Congrats! Remember patients is key
Sound advice. It reminded me a lot of stuff I've heard Kevin McCurly from NERD say.
This was awesome. Lots of tips to remember for my monitor in the far future lol
Thanks man I'm trying lol
Same here Taevian :)
Just got my ackie yesterday this video has is gonna help me
Hope it helps man. I'm not an expert but I share whatever I can.
the best way i found when taming ackie monitors, as well as savanna monitors, is to have their enclosures directly next to where you spend most of your free time at home. i am a movie watcher/gamer when i have nothing planned so i had their enclosures by my desk for weeks so they constantly saw me at close range and it did the trick between 2 weeks to a month. my most recent ackie Burt Gummer was tamed from the get go it seemed. 2 months old and already wanted to leave his cage and crawl all over me and cuddle under my shirt. same with bertha my female savanna monitor to this day will still try to crawl into my shirt (which doesnt work because she is about 3+ feet now)
you legit want them to get used to you being around them for the first 2-4 weeks with minimal interaction within their cage aside from spot cleaning and feeding. then you slowly start putting your hand in the cage, and let it stay there for a few moments and if they dont flee you can slowly move it towards them and try to touch them softly. and repeat every day or so (unless the ackie goes into burrow mode for several days) in that case then you just do it slowly.
my other ackie sammy she hated me for a while. but i would my socks in her cage where she would normally bask and nap so she would get used to my scent in areas she liked. this did the trick and eventually when i did tong feeding i would trick her to walk on my arm to get the dubia roaches and eventually would let me pick her up and hold her.
every single ackie and reptile are different even at a individual level. burt gummer the ackie was broen fearless of humans and would come to me barely past 2 months old, while others it took me months to tame down.
you need to be patient and understand the chances that your animal might not like people no matter what you do and might be just a visual animal you can never interact with.
its the reason i tell people to NOT get a savanna monitor when they come over and see my 3 foot and 4.5 food sav's snuggling with me on the couch watching SYFY channel monster movies. because they dont understand the work it took to get them to be basically puppies. and for ackies i try to tell people that these mother fuckers will remember everything you do, so if you are doing it wrong they will never forgive or forget easily. and are very flighty but if you do the work and do it correctly, you will get ackies that are like bearded dragons (burt is up against my neck right now doing the beardie wiggle as an ackie)
but with all that above in mind.... be prepared for the chance that your new ackie might never like being held and you will have to enjoy your animal from a distance.
however a good trick is to use food to tame down really any monitor to some degree. ackies love food and you can get them used to you real quick when they put 2 and 2 together than you are the bringer of food.
Couldn't have said it better myself my friend. My Ackie is now 2 years of age. You should check 9ut some of my more recent videos so you can see how his trust has grown.
Your videos have helped so much already with my first ackie, he seemed nervous and hid away all the time when we brought him home into our reptile room but I carried on sitting by him and maintaining the vivarium whenever needed and now he comes to the glass and is out throughout the day, he’s started storming over to my hand and stopping just short of my hand and watching completely still but not licking or climbing on me as of yet, he seems to freeze at first whilst I’m in the vivarium until he gets curious , taking it slow but progress I think 🤷🏼♂️
I think you doing great just give it time with each interaction your ackie will ponder over the previous interaction. With time your Ackie will become more comfortable with your presence. Also thank you for your support you have no idea how much this motivates me.
I have gotten to the point where my ackie lets me pet his back and neck as much as I want which is amazing. I only had him for 3 months and I got him when he was 9 weeks old. He does freak out when I really try and pick him up still so I'll just wait for his curiosity to really kick in
You've got the right idea my friend. Your doing a great job!
I just bought a beautiful ackie and been watching all your videos which are awesome. Question I have is the guy i bought him from at a reptile show said its okay to use cypress mulch as bedding but thats not what I’m seeing on TH-cam at all. By the way he’s an adult animal and looks a little on the heavy side. I watched another video on TH-cam where someone uses reptisoil which i think i am going to now change my mulch to the reptisoil which is sand, peat moss, and soil mix. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks so much.
I use to use reptisoil. It's very loose and fine. Drys easily when exposed to high temps in a Ackie enclosure. A cheaper and better substrate is use a Organic pesticide and fertilizer free top soil and mix 50 50 with washed play sand. That is the what I am currently using and they have that at every home depot and lowes around. I would not use mulch with Ackies hurts they're feet. As far as diet do only insects and if you want the lean out the animal feed the exclusively on dubia roaches, grasshopper crickets. Got light on the worms because they have more fat. Good exclusivly on an Insects Diet.. Feed 3 days a week.
@@Scales13 thanks so much for your quick responses I really appreciate it. I will be changing the substrate out tomorrow.
@@Scales13 would you happen to know what brand the soil is at Home Depot?
I'll send a picture of what I use through IG. Once we get the substrate we will talk about enclosure setup.
@@Scales13 thanks man I appreciate your help. I found a bag at Home Depot from Scott’s that has peat moss, Spagnum moss, and organic matter but I’m just not sure if this is completely safe to use mixed with play sand.
Great info man! People can apply this to a lot of species of monitor.
Thank you glad you enjoyed. I'll be back soon.
Great video 👍
Thanks 👍
Good solid video. Definitely a species I would love to get into one day.
Thanks hes alot of fun. Defently becoming one of my favorites to work with.
What are the dimensions to your enclosure?
This is a basic 4x2x2
It’s crazy that your videos don’t have more views man
That really makes me feel good to hear that. If you have friends interested in reptiles as well please feel free to share my vids to help the channel.
Yeah, this channel is really under subbed
Would an ackie ever rest on your shoulder?
Yes they will. They are active little animals though. Mine will sit on my shoulder momentarily then move to the top of my head, the crawl down my back etc. They don't stay still for long periods of time like bearded dragons.
Does your bride interact with Thunder at all? I’m wondering how they would be with multiple people. One at a time but three or four people. Would they get used to each person or are they one person kinda animals?
Mine only trust me for now. If I slowly introduce more people while I handle on a consistent basis I think he can loose more fear of people in general but for now he's bonded with me.
If you want to see a well behaved Savanah watch the Animal1 Guy's channel. He also does rescues of surrendered reptiles.Snakes, lizards, and tirtles/tortoises. He plays tug-o-war with his savanah as well as takes it for walks in warm weather on a cat /smalll dog harness and leash.
i gotta get myself an ackie. sadly really hard to find in the netherlands
I think there's a german line that is pretty popular. I dont know how shipping works in Europe but you could look into that.
try the reptile show in houten, i have seen them there but you better be early.
@@Vdh1989 Is it still open with this whole virus thing going on?
@@Scales13 No the upcoming event is cancelled
@@Vdh1989 man this stinks. Cant wait till this whole thing is over.
I’m pretty lucky, my ackie came onto me again but this time he pooped on my shirt twice and bit me, I don’t think the bite is a good thing but it hurt. He seems a little more curious about me after that because the next day he was on the glass of the enclosure
If he pooped on your shirt he must have got scared at one point but the act of him approaching you is pretty good. Keep working with him.
Scales13 well he climbed onto me and immediately pooped
Scales13 something is wrong my ackie is not in his tank
@@Mariofredx did you leave the enclosure open? If not dont worry they are masters of hide and seeks I've searched for mine a few time swore he escaped then next morning he pops up like nothing.
Scales13 I saw him in the morning, but I came home and he wasn’t there so I just let him be but I cane to check if his was in one of the hiding spots. So if they can hide very well are they in the substrate?
When I was 13 my dad bought me an ackie. I miss him so much
They are great pets. I'll be really sad when I have to part ways with thunder. He is great companion.
@@Scales13 It was really hard for me to part my ways with him because he was my companion for 11 years. Keep up the good work man
Thank you more Ackie content coming soon.
Do that every day you will have the best ackie ever for sure just let him do what ever he whant it be ok tng
19:40
This is the biggest reason and problem why I would not keep or like a dog
Really? Its actually awesome as they get older they mellow out.
Scales13 I’ve never had a dog so idk
If you have the time and space they are very rewarding pets.
Scales13 yea but I’m also taking care of my uncles dogs
@@Mariofredx ah I see baby sitting lol
A good way to get your monitor to recognize and get used to your scent is to place a used sock in their hide.
I did that with a piece of an old shirt.
My achie got a thermometer stuck on his back and i had to pick him up to get it off. He darted away after that and I felt so bad for him😂 he was alright tho
How did it get stuck on his back?
The thermometer was on a wall were he could climb, kind of like a plastic rock thing, he got curious and decided it would be a good idea to climb on it, so he fell with it and got it stuck on his back
@@cinnamontoasterroll518 sounds slightly nerve racking yet kinda funny
Scales13 it was actually kind of scary. He’s bonded pretty quickly and I was worried that this would be a setback. First thing I did was spray some water on it hoping to neutralize the adhesive. This actually worked so well that it came off in less than minute. Later in the day I tong fed him a big grasshopper so hopefully it has gotten over it. Going to replace all of the sensors like that really soon.
@@Streamer14 no worries my friend things happen consistency is key. I can't say they ive never startled thunder or have never made a mistake. As long as you consistency approach on your monitors terms and build trust they get over mishaps quicker and quicker each time. Atleast in my personal experience.
Check out the NERD channel New England ReptileD(something) They are mazing at handling all sized monitors.
I've already been watching them.
Great video my friend as always, Cody boyd why disrespect a person given out good advice, your not even a breeder a micky mouse breeder at best you haven't the knowledge are experience to judge other's trust me I will school's you, this is why you are removed from most ackie groups, multiple breeding time and time again, very sad individual mahuk 🇬🇧
You is this the biggest this get ?
Nope he was only a year old when I made this the grow fast the first 2 to 3 years. Check out some of the more recent videos you'll see hes much bigger.