Sumatran Water Monitor Sneezing??

[Flirtycuddle]

We just bought this little guy 2 days ago and since we got him he made kind of a whezing noise at first we thought was just him breathing. Well now I am almost positive its a respirtory infection and we are heading off to the vet the end of this week on my day off. What I want to know is there anything I can do to help him for now. It's about a foot long so a baby. Oh yea he has mucos coming out of his nose to. I know I need to get him asap but I go in early and work late and I can't just call in sick...I have to find someone to cover me and so far no one will so I can take him to the vet.

[daniel1983]

First the argus then the water monitor......those are two of the worse monitors for people beginning with monitors. I would take it back to the pet store...just like you did with the argus.

That 'little guy' won't take long to be one of the largest available captive lizards(6'+) if taken care of properly and should be housed in a very large enclosure.

http://www.proexotics.com/care_water.html

[Flirtycuddle]

He is actually in a 50 gallon tank with a litter pan for a water dish with the soil bedding. We have the heating pad under him with a basking spot of 100 degrees and an over all ambient temp of 85. There is also a UVA/UVB bulb on him during the day so that he gets the nutrients he needs. We have the calcium supplement also. He was bought with the respirotry infection unfortantly and the owner that we got him from has informed us of the vet to use and he will cover the costs of treating the monitor since we have only had him 2 days. We are building the custom enclouser for this monitor now so that is ready when the time comes.

[8b8ll]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=53147

Reference for how potentially big your "baby" water monitor could get.

But by all means good luck!!! And we'd love some pictures of him/set-up as well.


Mike

[Flirtycuddle]

Oh I already knew before I bought him that he was gonna get huge and need a full size room basically for him once he gets full grown. I don't have a digital camera right now but once i get one and can actually figure out how to do the pics I'll get some up.

[Thunder Kat]

hope he gets to feeling better!! good luck to you both!!!

[Flirtycuddle]

It is a respitory infection of course. The vet said it was pretty bad already so she's not sure if the meds are going to work the first time and if not we'll have to have him admitted to the exotic vet clinic to help be treated. So far though after a few days of meds he is more active and swimming a lot more so hopefull that means its working.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

First the argus then the water monitor......those are two of the worse monitors for people beginning with monitors

Worse? Maybe not but not the best by far. I would say a water monitor was a bad choice for a first time monitor keeper.

A few of the least sutible monitors for beginners and even a lot of advanced keepers are
Nile
Croc
and water monitors.

Although most of them will calm down and make decent pets, they can still inflict a bite capable of breaking bones, tearing off flesh and don't get me started on the "tallons" that a large semi arboreal monitor has!! OUCH

As for the monitor, keep him warm. Robyn and the crew at pro exotics says it in all of their care sheets, Keep the monitors ambient temps in the mid-upper 70s or you will have a mucus(sp?) blowing and wheezing monitor. Just keep the temps warm, not just the basking spot at 120-150 degrees but also the cool side up. He needs to be warm on top of the anti biotics for his immune system to be back to normal. Just my thoughts on it.