Dehtdrated Water Monitor

[suzuki4life]

I've been brought stuff that looks much much worse especially in water monitors and they turned around.

Your cage is terrible. Ideally for any monitor you either want to go the trough route for smaller monitors, OR you want to take time to frame and INSULATE walls for the enclosure for bigger stuff.

Heavily dehydrated stuff i will go to the extreme of subcutaneous hydration. Basically its injection of water under the skin of a lizard to help speed up the hydration process (think similar to a human IV). Force feeding Pedialyte is another option I use often with rescues. YOU have the benefit that he is eating. Much eaiser to force fluid than food. Personally, I would push fluids and heat. Yes he needs water BUT with the limited info and apparent knowledge it is NOT beneficial to have him soaking. He is retreating to water which lowers his body temps and encourages respiratory issues in sick animals. heat and decent humidity, push fluids and encourage eating.


Your cage....you want to keep heat INSIDE the cage. Outside mounted lights pointing in are just plain dumb. You lose over half of the heat this way. Learn to wire your own sockets and have them completely inside the cage, NO SHROUDS!!!!!!! Humidity will come especially with dirt substrate. As it dries out, wet it down or get leaf litter. Downfall, dirt is hard to heat so this is yet another reason your cage is subpar.

Your situation, I would probably use one of the large blue rubbermaid tubs with a socket wired inside. i would use a retes stack and keep him on paper towels for substrate to keep a good eye on fecals. I would give a small dish of water that he can not lay in but can drink from. I would increase overall temps (I'd use a heat mat under the tub if necessary) to above 85 and basking site 130-140 and see where he chooses to lay. heating him up SHOULD encourage food drive. If he's laying in his water, even if you are heating him up, he's lowering his temps on his own.

Monitors are hard to get right unless you put forth the effort for a proper setup.