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Ackie monitor

The ackie, or spiny-tailed monitor, Varanus acanthurus, comes from the rocky arid country of northern Australia.

It is a true monitor lizard in a manageable size — 60 to 70 centimetres against the two metres or more of its larger relatives — which is why it is often called the dwarf monitor.

It lives fifteen to twenty years, and the appeal is behavioural: monitors are markedly more intelligent than most lizards, they problem-solve, they recognise their keeper, and an ackie is active and engaged in a way a bearded dragon is not. The trade-off is that its requirements are far more demanding, particularly for heat and depth of substrate.

Origin
Arid northern Australia
Adult size
60–70 cm including tail
Lifespan
15–20 years
Basking temperature
A tight surface hot spot of 50–60°C, ambient 28–32°C
Substrate
30–60 cm of holding soil for burrowing — not optional
Diet
Insects primarily, with occasional rodents and eggs

Related: Bearded dragon · Asian water monitor

3 ackie monitor photos, newest first

Ackie monitor feed
  • Ziggy, a ackie monitor

    Ziggy

    Ziggy has claimed the warm rock by the back wall and is not receiving visitors until the sun moves.

    FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

  • Noodle VII, a ackie monitor

    Noodle VII

    Noodle's lemonade business has entered a difficult but citrus-rich quarter.

    FrostyOtter · 1 week ago

  • Noodle VII, a ackie monitor

    Noodle VII

    Noodle VII pretending the mud was not their idea.

    MerryBadger · 2 weeks ago

Living with a ackie monitor

Two things make or break an ackie. The first is a very hot, tightly focused basking surface — 50 to 60°C on the rock itself, produced by a cluster of halogen floods rather than a single bulb, over an ambient of 28–32°C. This looks alarmingly hot next to other lizards and it is correct for the species.

The second is substrate. Ackies burrow, and they need 30 to 60 centimetres of a soil and sand mix that holds a tunnel, kept slightly damp underneath. On a shallow bare floor they never behave normally.

UVB across the basking zone, and a large enclosure — 1.2 × 0.6 metres is the floor, more is better.

Feed mainly insects; rodents are a supplement, not a staple, and obesity follows overfeeding them.

They are fast, strong and clawed. Handling is on their terms.

General guidance, not veterinary advice. Individual reptiles vary, and anything about a specific animal is a question for a vet who has seen it.

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