Origin:

Spencers Monitor habitats areas of the Black soil plains which covers most of the Barkly Tablelands. The Barkly tablelands is an area of over 300,000 square kilometers between the Katherine and Alice Springs region, and east as far as Mt Isa in Queensland . Spencers have very sharp claws for burrowing into hard sand, rock and clay. Most will build a little tunnel network with both an entry and exit hole. It is not uncommon for them to remain completely buried for a couple of days at a time. There are very few trees in their region so they are not great climbers and most are afraid to do so. The best way to learn about any reptile is to learn about its natural habitat first

Origin Description.

The Barkly tableland consists of plains of red cracking clay that are littered with shruby grasslands (Mitchell grassand flinders grass), and endless clusters of large rocky areas. Trees in the Black soil region are sparse and mainly (Turpentine, spinifex and mallee eucalyptus) occupy the sandy areas, swamps and lakes that are scattered throughout the region.

Temperatures. And Rainfall

Air Temperatures in the day reach around 35 – 40 degrees Celsius in both summer and winter.
Temps are hotter towards the central areas and Ground Temps will be hotter due to the arid surface.
Whist night temperatures remain around the 24 degrees Celsius respectively.
Summer is hot and long with a semi arid environment with winter being short and cool.
Rainfall throughout the year is moderate but can become extreme if influenced by a monsoon season or cyclones.

Area Summary.

Semi dry arid environment (air temps 35-42 Degress no lower than 24 degress)
Clusters of Rocks and boulders
Grassy shrubs but very few high trees
Dry Red Clay or sandy surface

Nature:

As a Spencers Monitor grows they are mildly easy to establish a bit of trust with. After they settle in and are fed a few times they will rarely intentionally bite you. Large Monitors tails are like whips and are can knock a small person of their feet. Thier sharp claws and teeth are capable of shredding flesh and bone and can inflict serious injuries to humans if not respected and treated so.

Size:

Spencers Monitors like all larger monitors will grow into strong and powerful lizards. If feed well and given room to move they can grow up to 120cm long and a girth of a saucer plate.

Food:

In the Wild.

Practically anything they can find from highly venomous snakes, small mammals, large insects and any dead animals they may come across. They have an extremely tolerable stomach and can digest anything they can swallow.

In Captivity.

Grasshoppers
Quails
Rats
Uncooked chicken and meat

Enclosure:

Size:

Long (100cm – 300cm) : Wide (60cm -120cm) : Height is not essential (60cm – 100cm)
Larger Monitors need larger enclosures.

Type:

Indoor / Outdoor (Both will need heat source in most areas of Australia)
Wood, Safe Mesh, Reptile Pits. Glass not recommended creates to much humidity.
Well ventilated to allow you to have hot temps without humidity.

Substrate :

Brickies Loam, Sand, Dry Clay
Make deep enough for spencers to burrow.

Décor :

Hide log/rock
Water bowl
Basking rock
Scattered rocks and branches on the ground.
Avoid placing real rocks on the substrate itself. Burrowing will cause it to fall and maybe trap your lizard.

Lighting

Compact Uv bulb( if enclosure is inside)
Heat Light / Sources
So long as you have a good size enclosure, that is well ventilated and is capable of having temperature variants in it.( ie Hot spot (38-45) and cool spot.(24-28) Use a 100w or 150w spotlight. Keep the bulb at least 40cm away from the ground or basking rock. Extreme heat (60 to 70) directly on the head can cause heat stroke even in reptiles and monitors.
A better way would be a not so intense heat bulb and to use a heat cord in the substrate at the basking end of the enclosure. This will still give you extreme heat but a more even distribution of it similar to the way it works in nature. (If it’s a 38 degree day the pavement is twice as hot, but just because the pavement may be 60 degrees the air temperature is still only 38)
This is were it gets tricky. A lot of people use high wattage spotlights. To get extremely high temps in their enclosure, (In a very large well vented enclosure with a cool and hot spot that may be fine). Yes spencers do like and need heat. And yes it gets hot in the tablelands. But that extreme heat does not all come from the sunlight. The ground itself becomes hot throughout the day and will eventually become hotter than the air temperature above it.