Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I moved my sav into a new tank about 2 months ago and every time he deficates he does it in a large soaking pool I built into the front left side of his tank(see pic below). I noticed a thread a while back (Pics: New boy and old girl (hopefully) - rappstar609, Aug 26, 2008 ) where this issue is throughtly discussed and debated. With the conditions in my tank there is very little possibility my sav was dehydrated and plus I see him drinking water regularly so it just didnt make sense to me. Well The past couple days I decided I wouldnt fill the pool with water I would just leave it empty. Well what do you know he still went in the pool even though there was no trace of water in it. This makes me believe, in my case, that its habitual/preference. Maybe, however it sounds dumb and unlikly, its kind of like a litter box type thing, when he deficates there its out of the way and not where he usually occupies as you see from the pic. I just thought Id share the results from my little experiment.
-Nick-

I don't buy the dehydration reason. They like to crap in water. It's easier, feels better, cleaner, whatever it is, they like to do it in the water.

By reading that thread you know my take on this subject (ha ha). I think it's personal preference, as weird as it sounds.

You dont buy it because you refuse to believe the truth. This is something thats been well known by reptile keepers for many many years. Ask anyone whos kept numbers of monitors, and has kept them for years, the individuals who consistantly crap in water are dehydrated or trying to prevent serious dehydration, dont worry, you will find out the hard way sometime.
Its easier to take the advice offered and learn from others mistakes, rather than make the same old mistakes. Ive had monitors that became dehydrated from improper caging in the past, I also learned the hard way that vet bills can be very expensive. I learned from those mistakes, and took advice to prevent these problems, guess what, since then I havent had poop in water dishes, go figure.

I'm not a monitor expert, I've got about 2yrs of keeping experience. 2yrs experience with 4 monitors.

1 - sub-adult female sav in one setup
2 - adult savs (m/f) in another setup
1 - sub-adult nile in its own setup

All three setups are different, nothing identical, not even the substrate.

If I fail to keep proper humid areas all 4 monitors will poop in their water bowl. If I stay ontop of the humidity they each have their own spot they defecate in, and it is not the water bowl.

These are just the facts. No personal opinion implied. You decide. (Not directed at you, SHvar. You know that.)

Best wishes!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Think in terms of an experiment, you need to first understand what the animal is doing, and why, before assuming what the observation means.
Take a dry grassland/woodland dwelling lizard that normally sees water a few times a year, never soaks in the wild, and doesnt have a problem dehydrating or a need to soak in the wild.
Next place it in captivity, into a cage in particular, this is your lizard speaking to you the only way it can (it doesnt speak english it speaks its own language) so therefore it is telling you that there is a problem or multiple problems with its environment, that you need to make changes, the lizard will then tell you when those changes have done the trick.
The idea is that if you are confined to a limited area, with one clean water supply, for what reason would you crap in your water supply? The only reason for doing that is that the alternative to doing so is more detrimental to your health.
Thats easy enough to understand isnt it? How much more simpae can it be?
FR used to talk to people everyday about what their monitor is saying to them, and that they need to respond by making needed changes and the lizard will communicate the results afterwards again to you.

HH: Just for curiosities sake, what are your humidity levels?

SHvar: I do take note of the advice, and I greatly appreciate it I may come off as hard-nosed but I am just trying to defend what I have personally observed, which is not nearly as much as you and others out there. I have noticed that sometimes my male will drop a deuce in his water bowl and sometimes he will not; but I don't change anything, and he does not appear sick or unhealthy in any way. But, like you said, maybe I will find out the hard way but I would hate for that to happen and am doing everything to prevent that such as take in advice from others that know more than I do. I also have my female in an enclosure right next to the males (but separate) but completely same environment, and she has been doing wonderful for almost two years and I raised her from a hatchling.

My Sav was the one that sat on the edge of the water dish and pooed. It was said to be habitual, possibly.

The past 10 days I changed things. Instead of just misting, I now every morning soak the ground with about a gallon of water from a pitched and sorta mix it around (except near her "den" her den is made of soil with a cork bark roof. I also pour water on that.

At first humidity is up to 95%. BY 3 pm its back to 70% and holds there throughout the night with a 2 pm, 6 pm misting.
Also just before I feed her, I mist her directly, because she seems to like it under her bask light.

The change: She has NOT pooped over or in her water bowl. She poops in the corner near it. She also doesnt climb in the water bwl at all anymore either.

So apparently, it wasnt habitual, while she always had 70 to 75% humidity, it wasnt enough
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1.0.0 YBS
1.3.0 RES
1.0.0 red belly cooter
1.0.0 Fire belly toad
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor
0.0.1 Blackthroat monitor
0.1.0 Leopard Gecko
cats, dog, ferret, rabbit, rats, mice and hamsters

I've had a hunch all along that you've got what it takes to be a successful monitor keeper. You go, girl!!!

Great job!

Catch ya later!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Ha! You're not a bad guy, just a bit hard-headed; just like the rest of us.

I couldn't give you an average humidity level in my setups without it being misleading. I don't mist/spray the whole cage uniformly. I create humid pockets, of varying degrees, all throughout the cages.

I could probably get readings of 30% humidity in one area and have an adjoining 2 square feet at 85%. Part of their basking spot may be humid and part of it may not be. If I were to give an overall, average humidity level it would probably be about ` - e. But like I said, that can be misleading.

Choices, give them choices. Let them decide, not us. Frank, where are you? Ha! Ha!

Hang in there & keep searching, experimenting. You'll be alright.

Catch ya later!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

To be honest I cant give a single number in my cages, the ranges and levels are broad.
First piece of advice to you concerning humidity, have a solid top cage with a side mounted door, no screen tops, open tops, and no free roaming, our houses are designed to have such low humidity levels as to prevent them from rotting that they wick the moisture from the air and lower it. Next use dirt (topsoil) not coco mulch. You see coco mulch gets wet easy, and dries out easy, it requires constant rewetting. Dirt naturally holds moisture under its surface, it stays dry on the surface causing it to be safer for reptiles and prevents mold growth.
If I measure the humidity (been a long time, I dont even put batteries in the temp/humidity guages anymore), it would be low on the surface on one end, medium levels close to the dirt or water dish on one end, and dry in another area, yet if I measure the humidity in one of the burrows it would be a soaking 100%. This is how they regulate their humidity levels by moving artound, by going underground, by basking, etc.
All heat sources are on one end or in the middle, and are very little as far as wattage goes, this holds a constant temp, and allows for a broad range.