Reptile & Amphibian Forums

okay so I'm going to South beach for 5 days!! But I don't have anyone I trust to leave my lil guy with due to the fact that they are all coming with me. So what do I do. I leave Thusday and return on tuesday morning. He is used to eating everyday so I was thinking I could feed him two fuzzies on thursday and feed him again when I get back on tuesday..He should be okay over the weekend right? and I was going to turn the timers on his lights but the only problem is I won't be able to change his water so I was gonna put an additonal water bowl and hope he doesn't crap in both of them which he will. What do you all do when you go on vacation???? Pleeeasssseeee gimme some insight I don't wanna come home to any suprises if you know what I mean.

Although I'm new to monitors, I can say that in many cases it is likely a reptile in the wild will go a day or two without finding food. So, the feeding before and after should be fine. A possible solution to your water problem could be putting a smaller dish in there. He won't be able to climb in. Listen to any of the regulars here on the food topic though, as my experience lies more with snakes.

Steve

The thing is if I put a small dish in the water will be gone in a day... It evaporates pretty quick due to the heat even when I leave it in the cool side 80 degrees. So thats not an option.

what sort of monitor and how big is it? What is the room temperature of the room in which it is kept?

What I would do (providing the monitor isn't a tiny hatchling and your room temperature is within reasonable limits) is:
Switch off the basking lights for the duration of your vacation, but slow down the feeding a week before you leave so the monitor doesn't spend those five days cooled but with food in its stomach.

I'd rather chance the monitor going without food for a couple of weeks than leave it in its enclosure fully heated, with a full stomach. The chances of it fouling up the water is only one of many things that can go wrong.

its a juv sav haven't measured him in a min but he's well over 13in. And he's got a very fat tail and is a damn pig. The room he's in is my bed room so it's about 75 but his inclosure minus the 120 basking spot is around the mid 80s to high 90s...

if it were me, I'd give its last meal a fair few days before you go, let it digest that meal for several days (to make sure there is nothing left in its stomach) and slowly reduce the amount of hours the basking lights are on until they aren't on at all by the day you leave.

at 75F, your monitor isn't going to be metabolising that fast to come to grief over five days of you being away. Not if it is healthy.

I've always just turned their lights out so that they pretty much shut down, and left. As long as it's a time of the year where your house doesn't get really cold, he'll be fine. In fact, it's best if he cools down to the mid to low 70's or so.
Monitors are not fragile enough to be so concerned, then again you are right in trying to do the right thing for your pet.
The other option, is just put the lights on a timer like you said, which raises other issues that you mentioned.

Cheers
Jim

What do you think if I turn off the basking lights feed him pretty light a couple of days before I leave like crickets a couple days early and just use the ceramic heaters to keep it warm but just wait until I get back to feed him normally.

What do you think if I turn off the basking lights feed him pretty light a couple of days before I leave like crickets a couple days early and just use the ceramic heaters to keep it warm but just wait until I get back to feed him normally. this sucks I feel like I'm leaving my child or something

Can you find a professional petsitter? Vets often have references, and most are in the phone book. They're not cheap, but you could probably get by with their just coming in once a day or once every couple of days, and that should cut down on the cost. Your monitor will probably be okay without someone looking in, but it would give you peace of mind. Some reptile vets and pet stores will also board reptiles for you, but I personally think it wouldn't be worth the stress to the reptile for just five days.