Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm having trouble with my Male peachthroat monitor! I give him a varitey of food and made sure he was dewormed! And he seem to not be growing? Anyone have some good suggestions???

Without knowing anything about your setup all anyone can say is that your conditions are off somewhere. You might get that narrowed down a bit if you tell us what conditions you maintain him under and how old, large he is now. Pictures of the setup are helpfull.

Steve

This is my setup it's 36" long and 31" tall

Gecko
Your cage is not big enough for I'm assuming an adult Peachthroat.

I would go alot deeper with the substrate, this would enable you to pull your lights out of the cage.
This will most likely bring your humidity to a more exceptable level. Then I would add plants to make your Monitor feel more secure.

Here is a photo of my Jobiensis enclosure.
I hope this helps!
Mike
Mike's Monitors!

This is an 8' trough with 4 juvinile Jobiensis in it.
Do you and your MONITOR a favor get a bigger enclosure.
Mike
Mike's Monitors!

Hey Mike. I really like your setups. Keep us posted on progress.

Thanks Mike!
Mike
Mike's Monitors!

THANKS FOR THE ADVICE..... I GAVE HIM MORE PLANTS AND DEEPER SUBSTRATE. I HAVE HIM IN MY REPTILE ROOM WHERE HE GETS A HIGHER HUMDITY. ONCE I GET A BIGGER CAGE I WILL WHICH HIM TO THAT. I ALSO HAD TO FLAGE(DON'T IF THAT'S HOW YOU SPELL IT)HIM. HIS IS STILL LIKE A JUVINELE- SUB ADULT SIZE! WILL TAKE PICTURE OF THE UPDATED CAGE SOON!

if you are not experienced enough to reply to the post with actual temperatures and other details, then the problem with your monitor and setup is YOU. you gotta do more reading and research about proper monitor husbandry or you will have a dead monitor.

get the Savannah book by Ravi and Bennett, available at our site, it has the most up to date captive monitor husbandry info in print, and 95% of the care info will apply to your Peachie. you can also follow our Water caresheet, but the book has more depth and detail.

check out this link, then come back and ask your question again, but with more info, and someone may be able to reply specifically. best of luck.
What's wrong with my monitor? Pro Exotics FAQ

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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

I have read a lot about them My temp and humdity isn't the problem. I did get a lot of help yesturday. See my peach throat is a juvinele still his small. I have a taller wider cage for him coming!!!! He eats normal poops normal! I took him to a guy the knows alot about them. And he had internal problems. SO MY PROBLEM IS FIXED! Please don't come at me Like I'm a Moron....

oh no, obviously not moronic at all. great that you found a guy that "knows alot".
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

I let my Wife log on here under my user name. to ask a couple of questions about our monitor. She does use this sight as u or i do robin. Robin your the reason people loose interest in reptiles. You come at her as if your gods gift to reptiles. Sorry she didnt give you more specs on the animal, set up etc.. We're both very exp. in reptile trade. For god's sake she works for JEREMY STONE. I Anyways it's not temp,lighting,feeding or encloser. he's only 20-24 inches heads to tail. I have flagged him. He eats great, poop looks good. He is over all healthy aside from him not growing. We've had him since May of 06 he has only put on 20 grms Thanks to all of you that were helpful to her.
More info
C.h.
temp 92 one side 102 on other
humid. 80 to 95%
Food mice,crickets,cat food, monitor bites, sometimes fish

Hello,

I didn't really feel like Robyn was really that rude. She came on and asked why he wasn't growing and said nothing about the enclosure or anything else. Its pretty hard to offer help when you know nothing about the situation. And Jeremy Stone. Who cares?

Anyway, Im still learning more about monitors myself, but I think you might want to consider offering a larger range of temps. Perhaps mid 70's to having a basking spot of about 135. Keep the cage hot, give him plenty of places to hide and regulate his temperature, and feed him until he's full.

Also, she said he had internal problems? What does that mean? Possibly a result of poor husbandry?

Good luck.

Sorry to get that carried away i was just defending my wife. HE eats tell he is full. She has never used the forums before. When i had temps that high he never left the water dish. As far as mr Stone that was just a ref. that she does know about care husbandry etc.

Well when I first got my monitor, she would sleep in the water dish too. I have two basking spots, one of about 155 and one at 140 but the cool side of the cage still gets down to 70. I wasn't getting the growth I anticipated, so I made some changes.

I think my main problem was that I wasn't feeding enough, but I upped the humidity, built some retes stacks and gave her a huge mound of dirt to bury herself in and she no longer sits in the water dish. Actually, she will jump in there really quick, take a crap and jump out. However, I am still changing things around to try and find the best scenario for mine as well. If you aren't getting the results you are anticipating, you are doing something wrong. Its pretty simple.

You came to ask for help, but you insist you are doing everything correctly. That doesn't add up. It seems foolish to not change some things(when you know there is a problem) and see if you get better results, doesn't it?

Hey don’t worry about it, I know for a fact that even George Horns jobiensis are slow growth, I also know he will not listen to anyone’s advise.

Funny some of us aren’t top authorities on the subject, yet our lizards are growing faster the 95% keepers.
Seems to me it’s harder to help the more advanced keepers, I sure hope Robyn keeps trying though. This forum would be quit boring if it wasn’t for FR and Robyn.

I don’t know you, and I sure do not judge you in anyway, however I know you don’t understand what Robyn is saying, not your fault.
You cant understand something without experiencing with it, when you start applying the husbandry in Robyn’s care sheet on your monitor, your understanding will change.

Sins I am at it
Mike your 4 jobi’s in this nice set-up will not make it, I sure hope they do.
However I have tried this many times with the same result, this is an arboreal species that flees each other at first sight, they show bright throat as threat display to keep intruders at distance, when this safe zone is trespassed one either’s flee or fight, your set up doesn’t allow this, sooner or later one will be killed then an other. I know this is not the way other monitors progress in groups. But hey theirs a reason I keep them separated until matched.

Jobi
I have never seen these behaviors with any Jobiensis I have ever kept or bred. Perhaps in their acclimation period, I've only had this group of juvies for two weeks...two of them are already tong feeding!

In the past I have used several different enclosure styles for my Jobiensis.
Anything from arboreal, terrestrial and a combo of both.
Long ago I used a very crude terrestrial type enclosure with great results, eggs and hatchlings!
This is a spin off of that crude enclosure.

When my original pair bred they did so in this crude setup,
I then started using the one peice bathtub units, more hieght.
They never bred again! I'm going back to the begining.

Looking forward to future conversations.

Mike
Mike's Monitors!

Your set-up is excellent.

Jobiensis and doreanus don’t do well raised in groups, sometimes its even hard to raise them in pairs, they are dominant demon’s.

If you have no problems good, I sure hope you never, but I lost many and now raise them alone.

Jobi
I have other enclosures ready to go, if and when aggression sets in.

Once they start to mature I will split them up accordingly.

My favorite species as well!
Looky there we have something in common!

Don't you worry about parasites feeding them imported lizards with nasty sores on their legs?

Thanks!
Mike
Mike's Monitors!

actualy I breed those agamids, but even if they where wild its no problem for any monitors, I never really cared about parasites.

jobiensis grab the head of there cage mates while they are feeding, they simply hold on till it suficate, you find it dead in the morning, too late!

by the way I first contacted you years ago, because we had them in common, I guess you dont remember?

Steeve"o"
Of course I remember you!

At any rate I have never seen these behaviors with any of my Jobiensis, past or present!

I do worry about what I feed to my Animals and that particular item would never be fed to my Monitors! Captive born or not!
It's not so much the lizard but the sores on its legs!

I look forward to sharing expiriences with you!

Also sorry to hear about your recent tragidy, hope your getting better.

Mike
Mike's Monitors!

But Mike those are puncture wounds not parasite sores, they are the same wounds you will find on the heads if they kill each other. I raise flawless agamids but feed the colorless and keep the outstanding for breeding project.

I hate offering those to public, too much problems.

Mike it's there nature! They love lizards as much as we do, and see each other as an all you can eat buffet.
I know them well, my favorit monitors.

i'm the meanest man in the world! (aside from FR : )

i'm the reason people LOSE interest in reptiles? i bust my butt to ensure folks have a POSITIVE experience. you didn't offer details, and with all your "experience" you both should know that no one can reasonably help WITHOUT husbandry details.

low and behold, with a tear in your eye and pain in your heart, you give the details...

and they are horrible. proper husbandry info is listed in this thread, and it isn't what YOU posted. the info is there. take it, or refuse it, but congrats, you are the 604,932nd monitor husbandry ignorant keeper that cops an attitude on the monitor forum when experienced monitor folks tell you something you don't want to hear.

tell Jeremy i said hello. nice guy, i wonder if he knows the lack of depth in reptile knowledge of his employees, and their sensitive egos.

it isn't about YOU. it is about the MONITOR. i want you (whoever you are) to take better care of it.

(again- get the Sav book, and follow our Water Monitor caresheet. you can continue to curse me in your sleep, but apply the info)
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

WOW i am an idiot. For this reason i need to apoligize to Robyn. I have old info on monitors. I only keep up to date on boas and balls. Robyn i went to your sight and read as you told me to. I didnt know that husbandry changed that much as far as monitors. You are right it is about the animal. Sometimes my reptiles eat better than me. LOL. Once again Robyn i am sorry. Oh ya i have the pe-2. So the hot spot should temp at a 110 deg?
You think they would pull old books and info off the shelves, but they still sale them.....

hot spot should be at least 120F. 130F would be better. the temp gun is an important tool to set that up, good call. use an elevated basking spot. get the Sav book. for real.

i don't know if you are serious or not, but i hope improving your setup gets your monitor on the right track.

if you are serious, monitor husbandry has indeed come a long way in the last 10-15 years : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Yes i;m serious. I'll get the book. I guess i should keep up on this as i do with balls and boas. THANKS

Your monitor will thank you for it.

Honestly....Thanks to Robyn for helping us out...I've read some of your posts and I was wrong on my part. I also checked out your web page and got a few more ideas to help me out with other reptiles I have. Peachthroat is doing much better!!! LOL, my husband made me get my own registion name so...That don't happen again! Thanks much... Nice pics on your web page!