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I'll try to make this as short as possible. A few months ago I set up a room size enclosure for my 2 Common Niles. The room was split in half one side for each. One took to it instantly. The other did'nt do so well. This one flipped out for a bit hid and wouldnt come out or eat for 2 weeks. I followed the advice given on another forum and left him alone to let him adjust. At the time I was having trouble keeping humidity up. At the end of the 2 weeks I couldnt sit by and let it go on ant longer so I got him out. He had lost a lot of wheight and was dehydrated. I put him back in his old cage and the first thing he did was to take a big long drink. Within a few days he was back to eating normally, and in a couple weeks he was back to his old curious self, eating from tongs, checking out what was going on outside the cage etc. (next post)

Now I built A 8x4x4 cage with dirt. This time the humidity is high the dirt is moist. 3 days ago I put him in there. Same thing, flipped out for a minute, dug in and I havent seen him, nor has he eaten since. The other nile inhabits the whole room and is able to climb on top of the cage. I find him up there pretty often so there's obviously something he needs /likes up there; temp, vantage point, security, I dont know. The noise and smell of this one might keep the other one from coming out. I,d hate to pull him out after 2 weeks in the same shape as before. He absolutely needs the large enclosure NOW. He's used to a lot of activity around and it never seemed to bother him. This worries me and I really want to dig him up but I know my meddling hasnt helped my monitors in the past. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Roger

How large and old is the timid monitor? There could many reasons, including, he has to get used to his new cage, which could take a couple weeks, and if you split the cage, the other could more dominate causing the other monitor to see or smell him may scare him into his dugout, or the substrate, temp lighting, etc... if they can see eachother, remove that ability, if the ventilation connected, disconnect it, figurativly speaking of course, or just leave him in there if all conditions are ideal and offer him food every couple of days until he gets used to it, after 2 weeks he shouldnt be in that bad of shape, I once took a rescue of a baby nile that hadnt been fed or watered in a month and he came right back, but to futher assist you I really need to know the age and size of that monitor.

The timid nile is 10 months old and around 3'8" give or take. The temps and humidity are good. He's been out when I'm not around. Today I saw him in a hide on the cool side. I keep a kiddie pool for him to swim on the cool side and a water pan he can barely fit in near the basking area. I found krap in it yesterday. My guess is it's the change of environment coupled with the smell and noise of the other Nile in the room.

Thanks

Roger

See your learning, your absolutely correct

I've had loads of help from people on the forums.
Because the conditions seem correct I'll just leave him alone and as mentioned try feeding every couple days. He's in a different spot every day and has another burrow under a shelf thats right down on top of the dirt. I'll leave him a mouse tonight. We'll see.

Thanks

Roger