Savanna Monitor

[Jeanne]

Some of you know how I came about this Savanna, but for those of you who dont I will explain. I work at a pet shop, and one of our customers messed of its tail, bad enough that in the 4 days I was off, it got hard and infected. So, one of the girls at work told the guy who does all our reptile and critter ordering that the Savanna needed its tail cut off. So, it was done. Well the Savanna quit eating-poor thing. When I went in, I noticed that it was not eating, looked dehydrated and sickly. So, I brought it home. It has been with me for just over 72 hours. I got Science Diet A&D, which is what we used to help nurse sickly reptiles back to health when I worked as a vet tech. I have been up with him every 3 hours around the clock, giving him water, and every 4 hours feeding him by tube. This morning I had a great surprise..he was moving around alot and does not look dehydrated anymore. And I have seen him take a little water on his own from the dish in his enclosure. He is still not wanting to eat on his own, so, to bring the gut flora up a bit cause I figure it is down and he may have problems digesting, plus, he needs calcium. I am giving him yogurt.. force feeding ofcourse..but hey, at least he is getting some nourishment. Tonight when I got home from work, I brought him crickets... he showed no interest in eating on his own, so I guess he is a bit too weak yet. So, I opened his mouth and stuffed a cricket in, it hung out of his mouth for a few minutes, and he started that shaking his head side to side that they do, and he swallowed it. YAY! I got him to take 3 crickets that way, so hopefully soon, he will get the strength to eat on his own soon. But so far it looks like my efforts are paying off. I am so happy. Looks like I may be keeping the Savanna too! But I am still thinking on that. I attached pics for you all to see, you will be able to see how short its tail was cut off. I will take more pics of him Sunday to show the difference in him! I may call it Stubby if I keep it. LOL Ok, could not get the pics to post here, but heres the link.
http://ball-pythons.net/modules.php?...view_album.php

[BallKingdom]

I have a link to sav caresheet in the Lizard Care section if you'd like to read up on them. Sounds like he/she is doing great! I wonder how it'll do with no tail.... Maybe with no tail it'll require a smaller cage and be easier to keep when as adult. It won't be able to whip you with it's tail at all, hehe.

Have you tried feeding pinkies or fuzzies yet? Very good for them. Good thing you got it, sounds like it'll live. Since it's a sav I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess it's WC or farmed. I'd bring it to the vet for some meds and a checkup. Get any and all parasites out.

[Jeanne]

The distributor we get out reptiles from hatches them all hiself, so I know he is not wild caught. He still wont eat on his own, so pinkies and fuzzies are stll out of the question. But he is perking up, took him out in the sun this AM, he like that, but he wants to held all the time.

[CTReptileRescue]

Do you mind if I ask what type of procedure was used to remove the tail.
A recipie for tube feeding that's worked on some sav's here is:
Hissing cockroaches
Lg crickets,
pinkie or fuzzie mice
egg
Calcium glucanate
Vit D3
all nice and blended in a blender.
Just a suggestion It has worked wonders with some of our rescues.
Oh PS don't drink margaritas at our house, you'll notice we only own one blender..lol