Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is it normal for young water monitor to twitch(looks kinda like a hicup). its whole body kinda twitches often. Right now my monitor is shedding,eats regularly(gutloaded/dusted crickets(minerall/reptocal) and occasional pinkies/waxworms)), runs around normally but that darn twitch. is it something that will be/is serious? the cold season is coming in fast so im putting in additional heat in its cage soon. if the twitching is goin to be a problem wat could i do to help correct it. Any/all info is welcome.

My bearded dragon had a problem with twitching when she was younger. I was mystified, because she had a UVB light, proper heat, calcium supliments, ect. I had been feeding fish flakes to her crickets, and she was eating crickets like mad back then. I took a look at the nutritional information on the fish flakes, and found they were incredibly high in Vitamin A. I suspected that was competing for calcium absorbtion, and stopped feeding it to the crickets. Her shaking stopped. I'd still look for something having to due with calcium - either the lighting, food, or suppliment.

Katrina

While I'm new to monitors...I believe you may be lacking in quantity with the diet.. Optimum growth can't be achieved on supplemented crickets with "the occasional pinky" especially for water monitors from what I've read. I've never owned one and don't plan to....but I would think a young, growing monitor, would need quite a bit more food than that and that could be the cause of your tremors. My Bosc gets a 2 week old rat pup every day...plus chicken and crickets if she wants them... This diet is only for during her growth period... (Up to her first year or whenever her growth starts to slow down)