Savannah monitor hep!!!

[brandonjb10]

I have just been feeding him medium sized crickets. I tried giving him a dead pinkie but he wouldnt eat it. Did you check the pics? Idk if hes big enough to take it down lol. I know a glass enclosure isnt the proper tank but could i make one of them last for some time until ehs big enough for the wood one? I was thinking of buying a glass one off craigslist becuase i have a few big mbv bulbs that would deffinatly be hot enough there just too big for the top of the tank i have now.

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I have just been feeding him medium sized crickets. I tried giving him a dead pinkie but he wouldnt eat it. Did you check the pics? Idk if hes big enough to take it down lol. I know a glass enclosure isnt the proper tank but could i make one of them last for some time until ehs big enough for the wood one? I was thinking of buying a glass one off craigslist becuase i have a few big mbv bulbs that would deffinatly be hot enough there just too big for the top of the tank i have now.

[brandonjb10]

And im not the type of guy to read your advice and do the opposite. Whatever you guys tell me i take into consideration because i obviously need to change something.

[jclaiborne]

And im not the type of guy to read your advice and do the opposite. Whatever you guys tell me i take into consideration because i obviously need to change something.

Then I advise you to go to varanustalk.com and read...you will find very quick that a 6ft cage won't be big enough for a full grown Sav, you will also see you need a tank that can allow 2ft of compacted dirt substrate so that they can burrow down. It is better to have a bank of 3 lower wattage basking bulbs that create a hot basking spot that covers the entire length of the animal without heating up the rest of the cage and spiking your ambients...crickets aren't the best source of nutrition for any lizard...at that size he should be able to eat pinkies with no issues, him not eating and the lump on his back is cause for concern IMO and I would look at taking him to a vet and fixing your husbandry issues asap

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[JoshSloane]

Ok, for the time being try to get something with a larger floor space. Try to get a 40 gallon breeder or more. I'm not sure if it's the same nationwide but in Denver Petco is having a 1$ per gallon sale. That will last you a matter of months, during which you can fashion an appropriately sized cage.

A series of basking bulbs is ideal, but the mvb you have will be fine temporarily. Adjust the height of your basking surface to get the temps up to par.

For bedding, a top soil, cypress mulch, sand mix seems to be what's recommended, in a 50%, 25%, 25% proportion.

jclaiborne knows his stuff

[Daniel.michelle]

Hey, do yourself and your sav a favor and forget quite a bit that the person you bought it from said to you, its all misinformation. ("Oh, i have a buddy who does this or that" good sign they dont know what they're talking about)

Right off the bat, heres some stuff to work on. Heat, should have a minimum of 120°F basking (130 is better imo). Use flood lights for monitors. For substrate, they need deep sandy dirt, they burrow like crazy. For an enclosure, go as big as you possibly can, what he's in now is way too small (eventually he will need an 8x4x4 foot enclosure). For humidity, they need 60% aboveground, and 100% underground. (That will be a TON easier to maintain in a large enclosure.)

Please check out varanustalk.com and savannahmonitor.net they have the most up-to-date care and very experienced people with monitors.

[Daniel.michelle]

I havent looked through all the stuffs, but i would guess that hes not eating cuz hes too cold. If you havent yet, start using feeding tongs. (Start feeding rodents, as large as he will take. The more developed the rodent is, the more nutrients it has.)

Also, all baths do is stress the lizard. To hydrate it, raise the humidity.

[brandonjb10]

Thing is i dont think hes big enough to eat rodents yet, he only eats the medium sized crickets. The stores around me oonly have dead oinkies and he wouldnt take that. any other suggestions on food?

[JoshSloane]

I havent looked through all the stuffs, but i would guess that hes not eating cuz hes too cold. If you havent yet, start using feeding tongs. (Start feeding rodents, as large as he will take. The more developed the rodent is, the more nutrients it has.)

Also, all baths do is stress the lizard. To hydrate it, raise the humidity.

You definitely know better than I do, but I saw some information from pro exotics that said you could soak in very shallow water to help with increasing hydration in a situation like this. What do you think?

[jclaiborne]

Thing is i dont think hes big enough to eat rodents yet, he only eats the medium sized crickets. The stores around me oonly have dead oinkies and he wouldnt take that. any other suggestions on food?

This has already been said by myself and others, he is big enough to take down a pinky. The fact that he doesn't want to means he could be sick, temps aren't right, or again like we have all said they enclosure is completely wrong and he is stressed out, it most likely is a combination of all 3! are you just laying the pinky down and expecting him to eat it. Use tongs and dangle it try to stimulate his prey drive, work on fixing the issues that have been pointed out to you over and over. You have already said you have a 6ft cage available, get to work on that get him in there, that will buy you some time to build the correct size cage. I will say this one more time CRICKETS ARE NOT A NUTRITIOUS FORM OF FOOD, keep trying the pinkies, try silk worms, try horn worms, dubia roaches, butter worms, silk worms, at this point try ground turkey, try fish, try shrimp, this is not your bearded dragon it is a completely different animal. You said you are not one to ignore advice and so far you have gotten plenty of advice, links to sites that cover all of this...what more do you want people to tell you.

[jclaiborne]

You definitely know better than I do, but I saw some information from pro exotics that said you could soak in very shallow water to help with increasing hydration in a situation like this. What do you think?

I am looking for the article right now (so don't quote me on this yet), but I believe I have read a few times that monitors and tegus can't hydrate themselves through their vents like other lizards can.



This explains dehydration in monitors pretty well and explains why soaking is not the best option: http://www.varanustalk.com/forum/iframer4.php?page=gout