Savannah monitor questions

I rescued a Savannah monitor last months and up until a couple weeks ago he was fine. The Guy I got him from had him in a cage made out of 2x4s and chicken wire, and the monitor got stuck between the wood and chicken wire and just tore his back apart. Since ive had him ive bathed him every 2-3 days and put neosporin on his back after he's dried off and he's healing nicely. However he hasn't eaten in almost 3 weeks. I try to feed him a hard boiled egg every 2 days and a mouse once a week as well as some crickets and dubias throughout the wee. Any suggestions on what to do?

Before the better experienced folks about savannahs show up, you'll want to post what enclosure you have him in now, what temps you have in the cage, how you are measuring the temps, and what substrate he's on.

Without that info, advising you on the problem would be very difficult. If you have pictures(both of the injury and the current cage), that would help as well.

I've had two sav's in my collection. The one thing I've noticed is that they will go off feed if their temps are off at all. My current sav got sick once when his heating pad stopped working. I put his temps backup (115-120 basking) with a good heat tape pad and he perked right up and was eating right away. Try meal worms as they are smaller and go down easier than mice or eggs. My sav is not a big fan of the eggs but will demolish super worms. Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by M_MULLINS

I rescued a Savannah monitor last months and up until a couple weeks ago he was fine. The Guy I got him from had him in a cage made out of 2x4s and chicken wire, and the monitor got stuck between the wood and chicken wire and just tore his back apart. Since ive had him ive bathed him every 2-3 days and put neosporin on his back after he's dried off and he's healing nicely. However he hasn't eaten in almost 3 weeks. I try to feed him a hard boiled egg every 2 days and a mouse once a week as well as some crickets and dubias throughout the wee. Any suggestions on what to do?

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What size set up is he in?

What is the basking temp and how are you achieving it?

What type of substrate are you using and how deep is it?

Your monitor needs several things to thrive. The most important are space, security, an overhead basking temp over 130 degrees in the hot spot and a deep, dig-gable substrate that will hold humidity.

If he is not feeling secure, if he does not have enough room, if your basking site temps are too low and if you have not provided him with the appropriate substrate - he will fail to thrive in the long run.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

What size set up is he in?

What is the basking temp and how are you achieving it?

What type of substrate are you using and how deep is it?

Your monitor needs several things to thrive. The most important are space, security, an overhead basking temp over 130 degrees in the hot spot and a deep, dig-gable substrate that will hold humidity.

If he is not feeling secure, if he does not have enough room, if your basking site temps are too low and if you have not provided him with the appropriate substrate - he will fail to thrive in the long run.

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Exactly what was just said.

I had a Sav for five years and he perished because things were "almost" right.

A good starting point will be to read these sites over and soak it all in, print them out on paper if you have to.

http://www.varanus.us/

A nice writeup by Daniel Bennett

Savannah monitor dot org appears to be down at the moment.

check out the reptile report, there is a lot of Savannah Monitor info flying around there at the moment.

How big is the animal? My Savannah monitor didn't want to eat anything that didn't give him a chase. Crickets were his favorite and he also wasn't a fan of being watched while he ate.

After you get the enclosure and the temps correct try some crickets.


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Isnt neosporin bad for using on scales more than once? I heard it turns scales to mush...

I found out what was wrong, a couple of the light were basically burnt out so the temps weren't right. But to answer everybody's questions he is around 18in and his enclosure is 4x3x3. I have soil without fertilizer or any other additives in it and its 1 1/2-2 ft deep. He has 2 hides on each side as well as a big enough pan for him to soak in. I've tried both live and frozen mice and he just hissed at it but in a few days im gonna try to feed him again. Thanks for all your advice and input.

The fact that it's till refusing food troubles me.

Varanids have insane feeding responses, and when they go off feed like this, something is terribly wrong.

Do you have any way of measuring humidity inside the cage?

I don't but when I get paid next weekend im taking him to a local reptile vet just to make sure everything is okay.