Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alright i have this water since begin of june so almost two months. As you can see in the pics i recently put him a new and much more well suited cage for a wm's enviroment conditions. He/she has never i mean never come out when I'm at home. I mean never! Now i'm not saying that i purchased this monitor for a cute little snuggly wuggly pet that i can see every minute, its an animal they're unpredictable and are never willing to do what you want i understand that. i just find it so odd that i have yet to see him even basking or soaking in the water when im home. And now all of a sudden he has stopped eating frozen mice, i tried live and he doesnt seem to care either. The temp on the cool side is 85 hot side high 90s and the basking ranges from 125-135. humidty about 80%. any body have suggestions.

Hello,

It appears as though you have a pretty powerful spot bulb sitting on the top of the cage- 90watt? Also, those lamps, are they sitting on screen? You might be promoting dehydration of the lizard if this is the case. Try moving a smaller wattage bulb (65) into the cage and seal the top where the lights are perched now. Your humidity should increase greatly. Best to you- Mike

yea you were close its a 100 watt. and yes they are on screen. I'll give the decrease in wattage a try and seal one side of the screens. thanks.

Nev

No, completely redo that top and system. You only need one small part of the cage hot. The basking area, the rest of the cage needs to be room temperature. And you do not need much ventilation at all. A two inche diameter vent is great.

So make a new top, hang a lite fixture in the cage, use a low wattage bulb like a 65w bell shaped incandesent or a 45Watt halogen flood(watch out, these get real hot)

Your water monitor is a reptile, they NEED COOL AS WELL AS HOT. I am surprise your water has not burrowed to the bottom of the cage and stayed there.

Also, on a different note, monitors hate humans, that is their instinct. If one doesn't hate you, theres something wrong with it(brain damage) You can gain their trust, but you have to work against instinct. Remember, for millions of years, all animals larger then them, KILL THEM, not make pets out of them(same result in most cases)

So be happy your monitor is behaving normally and start to work at gaining its trust in a positive way. Cheers

Looking at the last pic, Id say you should move most/all the lights to one side or the other (personally, Id suggest the right side, over the water; as this may increase the humidity some). That should provide a better overall gradient. Take some temp measurements to figure out if you even need all 3 of those lights.

You may want to try misting occasionally if you think the problem may be dehydration.

This is a bandaid, but if the animal starts reacting favorably to a higher humidity (ie, eatting again, basking suddenly, etc) then you know what needs to be changed.

As such, I would start planning out a new top design- keep the lights off the screen.

Id also bust a fat pile of dirt/leaf litter in the back left corner of your cage (using the last photo for this description). This would provide the animal the ability to burrow abit more to give itself a dark/cool hide- its hard to tell by the photos, but looks like youve got about 4-5 inches of substrate; which depending on the size of the animal may not be quite enough (cant really tell, havent seen the animal).

Good luck.

Yes is is potting soil and I only have ONE light on during the day a 100 watt(which i've now reduced to a 75 watt) the other is a red bulb for night time so the temp does not drop so low. I may run to the local garden center and get some leaf litter i have heard that does the trick with humidty. It would be very hard for me to "fix"the top,this is a custom cage and i did not build it. I do have a brother-in-law who is a carpenter so i'll ask him for suggestions. Thanks for everyones help.

Nev

attn nile keeper: he's about 18 inches.

Hello A,

Custom or not, you may want to scrap it and get your lizard into something functional. Leaves can be beneficial if the air humidity in the cage is already proper- wet substrate won't fix this problem neither will heating a water bowl. Best to you- Mike

You need 45 watt spotlights (2) at one end of the enclosure shooting down on some plywood for a basking area. This is all you need for heat, scrap everything else and seal the top. Get the temp under those lights to 130ish by adjusting the distance from the lamp face to the plywood.
This will concentrate heat on one small area of the cage, while the rest remains room temp. And you probably dont need heat at night. What temp is your house?

Hello Newstorm,

All sounds sensible besides the no heat at night. They will use heat when they decide they should- you can't go wrong with 24 hour heat. Best to you- Mike

Let me elaborate on the "no heat at night". He is using a red heat lamp to heat the ambient temp at night, offering no basking opportunities, and is pretty much useless unless the house is cold.

If it was basking heat, it would be usable, not just adding to the "jerky machine" effect.

yes my home does get cold from time to time, which is why i have the red lamp on at nite to make sure their is no large decrease in ambient temp. regards, Nev

Hello Nev,

I'm sure you have read it here before... 24 basking heat greatly decreases the margine of error- the lizard chooses when it wants heat not when you will permit/give it heat... Best to you- Mike

Thats what i thought. thanks.
regards,
Nev