Quote Originally Posted by mumps View Post
So, this Rhasputin character knows his rats. That's wonderful, and I'm sure rat keepers are glad to have him/her as a resource.

Rhasputin does not, however, know his/her varanids. He/she has one, and it's been telling him/her for five years that things are not right - and nothing is done to make things right. I have only seen references to the terrible setup offered, nothing about temps/diet/humidity.

My guesses are:

1. It's too cold. It doesn't have access to the proper temperatures to make it want to be a sav. So it lays around waiting to warm up properly.

2. It's fed an improper diet. I recall roaches being mentioned, which are great, but nothing else regarding variety/frequency.

3. It's small. This is just reinforcement to my first two guesses.

Rhasputin - Your monitor is not happy. It is dying a slow, agonizing death. It needs heat, proper diet and husbandry. You say there is no way in your current circumstances that you can construct a proper enclosure. You better remedy that pretty darn quick. You say you have a new job. Don't they pay you? I go and buy reptile food the day after payday BEFORE I go grocery shopping for myself.

Chris
There's no doubt that what you are saying is 100% spot on. I've agreed with others about the same things you just mentioned. There is simply no way you can provide proper basking temperatures in a glass aquarium. Nor can you provide proper humidity.

I have always bought/built enclosures BEFORE I bought the animal. Not just hatchling enclosures, but at least a sub-adult enclosure even if the animal is a hatchling.

We also buy food for the animals, and get things taken care of at our vets before we buy things for us as well. It's nice to see someone just as dedicated.

I had a friend that was very happy over adding an Ornate Monitor to her collection. I think it was around 3-4 years old when it died. Anyway, she considers herself rather advanced in reptile keeping, but mostly just snakes. Well, I found out she had it in an aquarium around a year ago, among a few other husbandry mistakes. I messaged her a little over a month ago and found out it died a while back. These Monitors can appear perfectly normal, very healthy and then die quite suddenly if proper conditions aren't met.

My point is, a healthy appearing individual kept in improper conditions is just hiding symptoms. And not to point someone out in the crowd, but if you have a Monitor and it isn't doing "Monitor things", this is a symptom something could be wrong. Monitors are not individuals, they are a species. They follow instinct.