Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my Savannah now for about 3 months and it's growing very nicely, sheds when it should, eats like a champ, and is very active and healthy. But I recently made two changes and ever scince his stool has been runny and I am very concerned because I cannot afford a vet bill. First, I switched from feeding him pinky mice to pinky rats, I am thinking maybe that is part of the problem but I am not sure because I'm still learning. I also changed his substrate from sand to woodchips, like the kind in the bag that you get from a pet shop. I am switching back to sand soon because he seems uncomfortable with this.. Bur anyways, could anybody give me some pointers or anything I could try to help him?

Hi there, since noone else has replied I guess I will... First of all I would ditch both the sand and the wood chips/shavings. You should get him a good soil substrate. Depending on where you live you may be able to find good dirt in your backyard. You want to use dirt that doesn't have a ton of clay in it(it's extremely heavy and dries like a brick), but also has a good consistency that will allow him to burrow into it without caving in on him. If you can't find some good dirt around your house you may want to buy some soil and sand at a home improvement store and mix it in a rough ratio of 3:1 (soil to sand).

As far as his stool being runny, in my experience with my young argus, his stool was runny for several weeks while on an all pinky diet. Now that he is eating weaned mice his stools are much more solid than previously. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact that pinkies have very little solid bone mass and fur. Good luck and if anyone else has anything to add or correct me on...please step in!

It could be a sudden change in diet or it could be an indication of a GI problem. Watch his weight and hydration, double check temps are hot enough, etc. It could be several things.