Savannah monitor help =(

[horror13]

Hi ive had my baby savannah monitor for about a month and a half. why are the tips of his toes falling off need help fast please.. whats the best way to keep his glass enclosure humid

[bad-one]

I don't know really anything about monitors but my first guess would be that the humidity is too low and he isn't shedding all the way. The stuck shed on his toes cuts off blood flow, killing the areas that blood can't reach and causing them to fall off.


The best way to keep humidity and heat in a glass tank is to cover 2/3-3/4 of the screen top (that's what I'm guessing you have).

That's all I can say since I'm not familiar with monitor care, good luck with your sav!

[iCandiBallPythons]

Hi ive had my baby savannah monitor for about a month and a half. why are the tips of his toes falling off need help fast please.. whats the best way to keep his glass enclosure humid

Whats your setup, temps, humidity etcetera?

[JLuck13]

even better will be to post pictures of your setup. Here are the keys to start

age/size, Basking temps, ambient temps, humidity, substrate, hide(s), enclosure size, diet

You need to cover the top of it completely with either tinfoil, aluminum tape or plywood. and then cut a hole for light(s) to let everything through. He will get enough air from opening the top to put feeders in daily or every other day however often you do it.

Tomorrow get a nice size tub with holes in it, fill it with lukewarm water and soak him for a good hour. The extra humidity might help whatever stuck shed he has come off.

Get us info on this guy and the experts on here ( and i am in no way saying im near that, i just know how to listen to them and give solid info till they can fill i my good ) can help you. I know they need the info i asked for and pcitures to help the best, and not get fed up with having to answer the same thing over and over

[horror13]

the glass enclosure is 30 in long, 12 in wide, and 13 in tall(not sure how many gallons)... Savannah baby is about 6 inches long. right now tems are 82 cool side and 94+ basking area. Humidity going crazy drops from 50 to 20 then back to 50 at times.... I mist about three to four times. it has a water dish to drink from and or swim (need a bigger one its out growing the dish)... I have reptibark as a substrate and a thick branch that he climbs on and hides and sleeps under. i put a plant and a sponge try to help add humidity but doesnt really help. i feed him in a box so he wont in jest the bark. i live in sourthern california LA. temps go crazy. Help??? need more ideas...?!

[Skiploder]

the glass enclosure is 30 in long, 12 in wide, and 13 in tall(not sure how many gallons)... Savannah baby is about 6 inches long. right now tems are 82 cool side and 94+ basking area. Humidity going crazy drops from 50 to 20 then back to 50 at times.... I mist about three to four times. it has a water dish to drink from and or swim (need a bigger one its out growing the dish)... I have reptibark as a substrate and a thick branch that he climbs on and hides and sleeps under. i put a plant and a sponge try to help add humidity but doesnt really help. i feed him in a box so he wont in jest the bark. i live in sourthern california LA. temps go crazy. Help??? need more ideas...?!

I'm going to preface this with an admonition. If you don't feel like being admonished - tough.

You bought an animal without doing one iota of research on it's needs. Don't give med any lip and tell me you did research - because I've seen this story 1,001 time before. You didn't and unless you wake up to the reality and the danger you've placed that monitor in, it's going to die.

This is an intelligent animal with very exacting dietary and husbandry requirements. Unless you meet these requirement, this poor sav will lead a very miserable and short life.

For starters:

(1) Ditch the glass enclosure. It's too small and it is unsuitable for a varanid.

(2) Your basking area is about 40 degrees too cool.

(3) Your humidity is fluctuating because you are keeping that animal in a completely inappropriate enclosure with the wrong substrate.

That sav needs to have a deep substrate soil substrate to dig in. It also needs something that is essentially sealed to prevent loss of humidity. You need to ditch that glass tank.

Reptibark is a completely unsuitable substrate for that animal. Your sav is loosing his toes because he can't properly shed. He can't shed properly because your husbandry efforts are wrong on every level.

Not to sound like a jerk, but you are doing just about everything wrong. It is important that you understand that you are dooming this animal to a slow painful death unless you take the time to research his needs. After that, plan on spending lots of money to make things right.

If that seems like to much for you, find someone who is willing to properly care for that poor animal.

Instead of posting some defensive reply to my comments, take the next two hours of your life and read this:

http://savannahmonitor.org/

It will tell you just about everything you need to know. Read it and abide by it. Again, if you can't abide by it, donate that animal to someone who will.

[JLuck13]

+1 for savannahmonitor.org it should be taken like a bible.

While i do keep my baby in a glass enclosure, it is only till he is of good enough size for me to rip out the rest of the shelfunit in my garage and build him his adult enclosure, so aout once he is 18"-24" he will get his adult enclosure. for now he is in a 5x2x2 and is a whole 8". You need to cover the top of his enclosure to keep humidity in, does it have a sliding screen top? If it does you need to go to home depot and get aluminum tape and tin foil and cover the screen like 99% which just room for light from your basking bulb to get in. It will hold humidity very well and help hold heat.

what are you using for a heat bulb? i know i had to step up to like a 90watt flood light to get a wide enough basking area for it to be good. I also used an elevated basking area to create an even better heating gradiant. My "hot side" is about 2' wide and makes everything nice.

He also has abouut 8" of decomposed granite/topsoil mix which i only have to mist once a week to keep everything nice and moist. If you cant figure out how to get your setup corected ASAP, like within the next week. You might want to consider giving your poor monitor to someone who is an experienced and can give it a good life and doesnt keep it just for the i have a cool monitor and am going to not research type of people

[mumps]

Skiploder has addressed your situation perfectly.

Take his advice, do your research or find someone who will take care of your animal. You sound like you care, now act like it.

Chris

[horror13]

I'm going to preface this with an admonition. If you don't feel like being admonished - tough.

You bought an animal without doing one iota of research on it's needs. Don't give med any lip and tell me you did research - because I've seen this story 1,001 time before. You didn't and unless you wake up to the reality and the danger you've placed that monitor in, it's going to die.

This is an intelligent animal with very exacting dietary and husbandry requirements. Unless you meet these requirement, this poor sav will lead a very miserable and short life.

For starters:

(1) Ditch the glass enclosure. It's too small and it is unsuitable for a varanid.

(2) Your basking area is about 40 degrees too cool.

(3) Your humidity is fluctuating because you are keeping that animal in a completely inappropriate enclosure with the wrong substrate.

That sav needs to have a deep substrate soil substrate to dig in. It also needs something that is essentially sealed to prevent loss of humidity. You need to ditch that glass tank.

Reptibark is a completely unsuitable substrate for that animal. Your sav is loosing his toes because he can't properly shed. He can't shed properly because your husbandry efforts are wrong on every level.

Not to sound like a jerk, but you are doing just about everything wrong. It is important that you understand that you are dooming this animal to a slow painful death unless you take the time to research his needs. After that, plan on spending lots of money to make things right.

If that seems like to much for you, find someone who is willing to properly care for that poor animal.

Instead of posting some defensive reply to my comments, take the next two hours of your life and read this:

http://savannahmonitor.org/

It will tell you just about everything you need to know. Read it and abide by it. Again, if you can't abide by it, donate that animal to someone who will.

hey i was wondering if you can post some pics of your enclosure so i can see your setup please...

[BOWSER11788]

skiploader, again, 100000000000000% correct, and Mumps finished it.