Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, this is my first Savannah Monitor, and it is a brand new baby. I predict it at between 2 and 3 weeks. I bought it last night and when I got it home, it seemed fine. It ate several two week old crickets right after it got into its tank. This morning, I put a few more crickets in, and it ate one real fast, but immediately lost interest. It hasn't eaten since. Also, it has been spending almost all of its time with its head pointed straight up in the air. It doesn't seem overly stressed (it moves around a bit, not fast but some movement, and when I handled it it seemed perfectly comfortable), so I don't know what the problem could be. I also saw some regurgitation in the tank. Can anyone help?

First a few things to try, at what temperature is it in your monitors enclosure?

They require it to be fairly hot, basking spot should be at 130 degrees. Cold savs get sick real fast.

What substrate are you using? Fine substrates like coconut hair or wood shavings can become ingested with the cricket and choke the lizard.

Your water bowl needs to be big enough to swim in, and always have fresh clean water.

Shy away from using a fish tank with a screen cover, it will allow all the humidity to rise out, and become dry and arid in there.

Go to the pro-exotics web site, links are everywhere. They have tons of great SAV info, and a couple books (get the books) and they sell a temperature gun so you can measure your temps.

Warm that baby up, and give him a swim, it may come around.

do you have a reptile vet close by?

Good luck,

Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey

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