Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I'm pretty new to the monitor stuff in general. I ended up buy a baby Sav about 2weeks ago. So far I have had no problems she has been eating like a little pig (crickets and minnows). I have he in a 20gallon(long ) and Millet for substriat for now. Temp in the cage stays around 90days and 85-82 nights. She has a hide basking spot and water bowl. I have just noticed that she spent a lot of time in that water bowel. I mean 6-8 hour a day in that thing. Sometimes she try to sit in that thing all night. I usally take her out just cause I don't want her to get chilled. I have a few questions about this. Is this normal for these guys? Should I take the water bowl out for some of the day? I'm not sure about the the millet it may absobe too much the humidity in the tank. Coud this be a reason for the sav tobe spending that much time in the water? I need to order that other book the everyone talks about on here. I have one by Mark K. Bayless but haven't heard many reviews on it. I plan on building a bigger wood cage for her and using a better substrait like the decomposed granite like Pro Exotics mention in thier care sheet. Anyways thanks for the the help in advance.

Hello,
Your temps are not usable and your humidity is low, very low, sucks... as does the millet. Get a solid top, light inside the cage- basking temps at 135 degrees(take the temps don't guess). Get some deep dirt in there and get the millet out or, leave it and grow millet sprouts... In any case after you have done all of the above dampen the substrate a bit and leave the heat source- basking light- on twenty four hours a day... I hope that this is helpful... it's not my advice but I am passing it on to you because it is working wonders for my lizards- Archive search FR - Best to you and the sav- Mike