Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok so I ordered a baby savannah monitor from a online reptile supplier, Im not going to say which one till i figure out whats going on. First a little background, I have a sub-adult male savannah, thought Id take my hand at raising 2, Ive had great success with my little man for over a year now. Now heres where it gets shady. First off they are supposed to ship within the week, 2 weeks later "today", I recieved him/her. Not only was there only one heat pack in a tiny little box, but he was so cold he just kind of slumped out of the bag. I immediately put him under the heat lamp in my quarantine cage where hes sitting right now. Now heres the problem, I dont think the heat packs can burn, but on his right "ear hole" forgive me for not knowing the correct term, there appears to either be a burn, or a growth, im not sure, the scales are all darker and they protrude farther than on the other side, almost like that part is swollen and dried out, PLEASE tell me this is nothing serious, im livid already this will only fuel the flame. Im going to be posting some pix later TODAY the quality wont be too good, but maybe one of our more expierenced members will help me PLEASE!!!!

I cannot speak for the abscess/growth on the side of its head, but I can vouch for warming up cold animals.

Putting them directly under a heatlamp is extremely dangerous. This alone can cause thermal burns, but the rapid change in temperatures from being very cold to very warm/hot is not a natural scenario that the animal's body is accustomed to/designed to deal with. You can cause serious, irrepairable damage to the organ systems and tissues of an animal by such a rapid change in temperature.

While it is everyone's first intention to immediately heat up the animal, as in the event of receiving a cold monitor, it is best to slowly raise its body temperature over the course of an extended period(perhaps several hours). This is the same reason why human patients suffering from hypothermia(for example, a kid who has fallen into a frozen pond), are not rapidly heated up back to normal body temperature. The temperature is slowly raised up, preventing any damage to the body and internal organ systems.
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Treemonitors.com

well i didnt put him directly under the lamp, i put him in his new cage, which the ambient temp is like 75-80, and at the other side it gets really warm, hes hiding under his tree right now, his cage is huge like 150 gallons

>>well i didnt put him directly under the lamp, i put him in his new cage, which the ambient temp is like 75-80, and at the other side it gets really warm, hes hiding under his tree right now, his cage is huge like 150 gallons

Without pics really hard to say. Maybe mites and a tick in the ear.
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hbailey

0.1 argus monitor

Ok so the mystery of the severely damaged monitor has been solved. I took him to the vet and it appears that the man who sent him had a VERY VERY bad habit of not keeping his lights in proper placement. The heat light that was being used apparently fell inside of the tank, scorching from behind his eye about a inch to past the ear hole, what appeared to be a abcess was actually a very large burn, while chasing his food down the other day he managed to tear off said scab, leaving a nice fresh pink patch of skin showing and a bloody tear where the scab came undone. THE JOYS OF ORDERING ONLINE!!!! So after 2 weeks of waiting for him to show up in the first place, I spent a comprable amount at the vet and for meds etc...... Hes going to send me a replacement an additional week later, so now I have my healthy happy juvenile, a very injured sub adult, and a baby on the way, just my luck, I went from 1 monitor to 3 in less than a month, I cant wait till the new one gets here so I can tell you all the name of this company, ITS ONE U ALREADY KNOW!!!!!!!! Then I will contact the better business bureau, This whole thing has been ridiculous and I hope none of you have to go through the same thing.

At least they are sending you another one along with the one you already have. I am interested in knowing what company it was.

It is also a good thing that monitors heal quick.
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Ed

Thats very common with WC imported monitors that are caught and stuffed into burlap bags by the dozens with others sometimes twice their size, do you think those capturing or importing them care, I know they dont. It could have been an attempt in the past by a predator to eat that monitor, after all in the wild boscs are commonly very small at a year old or more.