Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I mean, they´re aint picky if i change from mice pinkies to rat pinkies, or are they? Coz my BT Godzilla is only accepting big crics, and fewer than what he normally use to eat. I put in some what seems like rat pinkies ( by size ), he could eat em, but doesnt. All he does is lie on them. Anyways, im taking him to the vet on Tuesday, but i would like some advance if anything is wrong with him, as a backup for what i have to tell the vet. By the way, he started like this since we came back from a week of countryside visit. Could be parasites (nematods) but ill soon find out.
Cheers,
Sheri

Well. it could be alot of things. It could be parasites, humidity could be too high, humidity could be too low, it could be too cool, it could be too hot, it could be stressed.
Do this, take pics of your set up, lots of pics from different angles. Make notes of everything you can possibly think of, basking temps, warm side, cool side, substrate, how much and what it has eaten.
Be completely honest with the vet and show him/ her the pics.
Good luck and let us know what the vets says.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

These were the following we figured:
- He is clean from internal and external parasites.
- He is physically fine, no injuries whatsoever.
The problem could have been the teperature was too HIGH!!!! 50ºC was the max meter...have to put a less potent lightbulb.
Anyways, lets see if with this final solution plus the water sprinkling for humidity, he can grow healthy enough for me to feel satisfied as a "dad" and get an Ackie next maybe...though they are hard to find here:-S

Glad to hear it is just a husbandry problem. I use 50 watt halogen floods.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Hi,
You were keeping your BT at 50 C! That is HOT!!! Where was the BT compared to the heat source? Was it near the heat more often or at the farthest place from the heat? As Scott said, both too hot or too cold can make them sick or stressed.

Also, wild V. albigularis do not encounter rodents, and if yours is a recent import, may not know what they are, hence ignore them altogether. Try more familiar foods, try cockroaches, grasshoppers, crayfish, hard boiled eggs, young chicks, etc...

Good Luck,
mbayless

They do seem to like crawdads and birds. I heard that quail taste just like chicken. hahaha
Be careful if you have any ferrets, Albigs seem to like these too. I guess they look so much like a mongoose.
I recently offered mine some still born boas and they acted like they wanted more.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

They do seem to like crawdads and birds. I heard that quail taste just like chicken. hahaha

Yes they sure do....

Be careful if you have any ferrets, Albigs seem to like these too. I guess they look so much like a mongoose.

Im not surprised - one of their greatest enemies in Africa is the Ratel or Honey Badger - notorious for killing them in their burrows...

I recently offered mine some still born boas and they acted like they wanted more.

Monitors tend to 'enjoy' prey closer to their own reptilian realtives than mammals in many cases...i.e. it reduces competition, predators and keeps the forest clean...

Cheers Scott,
markb

Since like most would know, Spain gets HOT! in summer, so what i started doing was Switch on the bulb when hes on the heat side and switch it off when he returns to the cold side. Normally the warm side would be aroung 30-40ºC, but if he stayed to long in the warm side it would raise to 50ºC (75 watts UV providing bulb is likely to do that). Im thinking to changing to a 50 watts (like Scott said) but of a normal bulb...just to provide the digesting-helping heat ray. Heat in the enclosure is already provided by the surroundings
As for the mice, he was eating for over the first month i got him: crickets and grasshoppers, plus occasional really, tiny newborn pinkies. Then in the second month, i thought i could change the pinkies to fuzzies (first hair pinkies). He ate a few of them well, digestided them well....all till the heat problem aroused.
Im not gonna stay calmed till i see everything in my BTs surroundings is perfect
Cheers,
Sheri (heh! im a blabber mouth)

Hi Sheri,
Yes Spain is HOT in summer, no question (I wish Denmark would warm up sometimes!).... monitors also get bored with food items, or simply prefer other foods = perhaps your albigularis is telling you this? How long does your albigularis stay under the 30-50 C lamps for basking? IF the time is too short, it might be be able to properly heat up internally or body core temps, and then eating is avoided, as it is too cold. I agree, lower the heat intensity and see if that helps. The optimal body temp of a albigularis is ~35C. The thermal limit for body temp in albigularis is 40C - then they reach their critical thermal temp and can die of heat exposure - so be careful. Watch the animal, and good luck...trey more birds and larger insects.
Good Luck Sheri,
markb