Stuck shed on a monitor?

My sav has so much skin problems since I moved him to top soil. Stuck sheds that when you peel off takes of actual flesh. He has a few sores many of which have started to heal over since he has been on the loose for a week now. Any idea of how to work on getting these sheds off? He's soaking with warm water and veggie oil now. I'm gonna try some new substrate for him because regular dirt has done more harm than good

I would think that so long as the sheds aren't around his toes or tail, it should be ok to leave them alone until he is ready to shed out again. Just make sure no appendages are going to be "strangled" by stuck shed. Patches of old skin shouldn't hurt him, though.

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Originally Posted by JLC

I would think that so long as the sheds aren't around his toes or tail, it should be ok to leave them alone until he is ready to shed out again. Just make sure no appendages are going to be "strangled" by stuck shed. Patches of old skin shouldn't hurt him, though.

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He's sleeping now. I took him out of the bath and rubbed some more shed off. He's under a hand towel laying on my chest. He looks much better after a bath. Are their ears supposed to have a piece of skin in them?

You can see that his skin doesn't look to healthy
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...e823575884.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../Tess/Tout.jpg
Look at his bottom jaw, all of that is scabbed over and if you try and rub that dirt off it starts bleeding

well he looks great otherwise...
i'm no expert, but from what i've been reading, a lot of skin problems are the result of long term diet and/or vitamin problems. just some food for thought.
as far as substrate goes, the one guy i know that has a sav uses orchid bark mulch for his big guy.

its probably not the dirt if you're maintaining it right. make sure you keep it moist. also, what is his diet? just curious.

His diet is mostly mice and rats. I havent had very many roaches to feed him lately. I try and mix in a hard boiled egg and some canned Tuna every one in a while for variety.

that may be your problem... from what i've read, monitors dont typically do well on completely rodent diets when in captivity. and i know savannah monitors typically feed entirely on insects in the wild. i just read a big article the other day... i think it was in reptiles. recommended substrate was a sandy soil mix that's wet enough for them to dig in.

nix the tuna and stick to whole prey items. also, include more insects in the diet. dont you have a lot of roaches? those would work great.

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Originally Posted by mr~python

nix the tuna and stick to whole prey items. also, include more insects in the diet. dont you have a lot of roaches? those would work great.

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Just sent out a money order today for 500 more roaches.

where do you get 500 roaches?

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Originally Posted by kzooherpetoculturist

where do you get 500 roaches?

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I don't understand your question, Where as in you didn't know people sold roaches or Where as in where did you order them from?

I am getting 500 more blatta lateralis from Clarks Gecko's. My leos love them also. They only get a bit over 1" so they aren't giant roaches at all

Have you tried locusts? Mine loves those - has fun chasing them too. I only give Savariano rodents 2-3 times a week now (remember Dachande? I asked him) and a lot of the monitor people say just 2 times a week (I was overfeeding him I think).


I use topsoil and add some water to it every few days - he gets in a mess sometimes when he digs and burrows and about once a week he'll do something in there and whacks it all over the glass. His skin is fine.

Wierd....We don't have locusts here I don't think.

I dust the crix, and feed every day, and feed rodents about every other or every 3rd day.. From what I understand though, you cant overfeed a sav their first year of life..They do most of their growing during this year.

Also, have you had a fecal done?? I was told most Savs are WC and likely to have parasites..Might be causing the problem shed..Something to ponder on :)

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Originally Posted by amercnwmn

I dust the crix, and feed every day, and feed rodents about every other or every 3rd day.. From what I understand though, you cant overfeed a sav their first year of life..They do most of their growing during this year.

Also, have you had a fecal done?? I was told most Savs are WC and likely to have parasites..Might be causing the problem shed..Something to ponder on :)

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He was Cbb. I got him from a guy that had the parents on site and a few eggs of some sort. Pretty neat stuff. I found a bunch of baby roaches in the roach tank so I should have plenty to feed him starting in a few more weeks. I'll probably just throw a few dozen in a bowl with some powder and see how he does on that for a while. Not enough Roaches here at the moment but should be next week the 500 will be here.

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Originally Posted by Pork Chops N' Corn Bread

Wierd....We don't have locusts here I don't think.

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We have plenty of locusts in the UK - but we can't get roaches very easily.

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Originally Posted by Razaiel

We have plenty of locusts in the UK - but we can't get roaches very easily.

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I may try and see if I can find captive raised locusts. Roaches are becoming more and more popular feeders. When I get my colony going good I'll be able to feed him a bucket full of roaches a day and still have more than I know what to do with. Do grasshoppers/locusts have a smell?

Wish I lived nearer to help you out with the extra roaches then :) Locusts have no smell - much better than crickets - I hated the smell of those and luckily Sav doesn't seem fond of them anyway. I read somewhere that locusts are actually supposed to be better (more nutritious) than crickets.

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Originally Posted by Razaiel

Wish I lived nearer to help you out with the extra roaches then :) Locusts have no smell - much better than crickets - I hated the smell of those and luckily Sav doesn't seem fond of them anyway. I read somewhere that locusts are actually supposed to be better (more nutritious) than crickets.

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Locusts are basically just grass hopper then right?

I may be wrong, but aren't grasshoppers green? Locusts are yellow - like these ... http://www.livefoodsdirect.co.uk/dep....asp?dept=1038 I give my sav the big ones down the bottom - either the extra large ones (yellow) or the adults (pink with wings).