Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have just recently purchased a hatchling water monitor and the other day he started kind of coughing and this morning he has muscus build up in his mouth, I afraid it might be a respitory infection, unfortunately my town has no reptile vets so I have to go off of reptile vets books i have and hopefully get some help from on here. I have him in a 129g tank with peat moss as the bedding floor I have a basking spot of 110 Degrees and an ambiant temp of 85 to 90 in different areas of the tank. If anyone thinks he might need antibiotics let me know and what you think he might need or if i should just make sure i keep him warm and humid, Thank you for the Help it is greatly appreciated!

Adam

Fisrt of all, raise his basking spot to around 130 degrees. Your ambient temps seem good, but how are they at night? Idealy, they should stay the same. What I do to accomplish this is have two basking lights; one durring the day, and one of those black lights for night. Try this for about a week. If he still has these problems, you should find a vet, even if you need to go out of town for one. If all goes well, you will soon have a huge monster like mine, Muhahaha! Hope this helps!

He is already seeming better today i actually had already lowered the basking light to get the spot warmer i know they need around 130 and night temps not even a prob it doens't get below 75 in my house at night if even that, I keep my house around 80 to 85 in the day so I always have great temps. I was pretty sure i just had to raise the temp i just wanted other peoples opinions, thank you for your help. I can't wait to post my future cage on here. i'm working out plans for a total conversion for my spare room which faces my living room, i'm going to turn it into a zoo quality enclosure for my water the room it 10x9x9 so it should be awesome. i'll post pics soon of start to finish

Adam

Good to hear that he's doing better, but keep a close eye on him for the next few days just to be sure.

And what are you feeding your little buddy? I recommend young mice (like pinkies or small fuzzys), but because it's meat and your monitor is very young, you should not let his night temps fall below 80 degrees. I lost one of mine several years ago because his night temps were not high enough. And if you are feeding crickets, be sure to dust the bugs with calcium (you can get it from Petsmart of PetCo) and feed the crickets with some of those cricket food cubes (that worked well for me, but is there something better?).

When he gets big enough for his room, I would also recommend getting a heavyduty door with a lock. Believe me, if he gets out, he will tear up your house. Good luck!

I'm going to be using a huge sliding glass door that already has a lock, I do construction, so Wiring, frame work, door installation, plumbing etc.. etc.. will all be professionally done by my coworkers and I, I also plan on bringing in Landscapers I know to bring a real jungle feel to it the room will have a running water fall, real rock perhaps lace rock, tropical plants and a drain for the pond for cleaning it out, along with a water purifier to keep the water crisp, it'll be quite a project but it'll rock!

Adam

Hey, I never thought about putting a sliding glass door for my lizard (I may have to steal that idea, heh heh heh ).
You should put in a heavy duty water purifier, because these lizards will take heavy duty dumps in their water, and more than once a day. Tropical plants will make it look good, but if I were you I'd put in fake ones, because your little buddy will tear the live ones to pieces.

Remember to post pictures when you're done!