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Ive been keeping monitors for about 15 years without ever having a serious problem, but my latest (4.5 month dumerils) was out growing his original water bowl and so I replaced it with a bigger one. He was getting ready to shed, and what Im pretty sure happened is, is that he stopped soaking and I didn't really notice until I realized he was not shedding normal.

I bumped up his humidity and put his old bowl back. He immediately started soaking again and shed his skin except the last three inches of his tail. It looked like it acted like a tourniquet and about 3/4 of an inch withered and dropped. 2 weeks later, a about a 1/4 inch more dropped. It all looked really good dispite the old skin is still on there. Its been another two weeks and either his tail is a naturally nobbier or I think he might have dropped a bit more.

I can still see that there is about an inch more that didn't shed. Twice I have taken him to the tub after he has soaked for several hours and scrubbed his tail with an old tooth brush and I can't get the old skin to come off.

I was hoping that someone knew of something that could break the skin down and help it fall off before he has a docked tail! He is soaking for several hours a day, humidity is good, temps range from about 120 to 75 and his appetite has never decreased - he eats a ton.

thanks,
mike

It is a humidity problem what is your ambient humidity at,Dumerils require a high humidity. what are you using for substrate, a good one to use is a dirt sand mix and if you put two feet of dirt they will burrow in if its kept moist it holds humidity well
In the wild they are known to burrow in mud and can stay in them for hours suggesting the like moist hides

The only thing I can think of is keep soaking him keep the humidity up and hope the skin loosen up.

greg

The egg or the chicken? Which comes first.

Normally, its not a stuck shed that causes the problem, but the skin does get stuck when the problem occurs. That part of the tail dies.

When monitors are stressed, they break down. One of the first serious signs are tail tip and toe loss. I believe its a circulation/immune system problem. Its very common. And it will keep happening until you fix the problem. Once you solve the problem, the tail will quickly heal.

About soaking, while beginer keepers think that is a good think. ITS NOT. All monitors, do not spend time soaking, unless they are dehydrated. So its a sign of dehydration, that is, prolonged soaking. Of course Dums are water or better yet, muck monitors. But like most water and muck reptiles, they dry out and stay in dry humid shelters. We all know prolonged wettness causes all manner of problems for reptiles.

Why varanids are a BIGGER problem is, they want and now we give them high temps(compared to other captive reptiles) This causes extreme air movement, hot air raises and takes humidity with it. This causes lots and lots and lots of dehydration problems.

In most cases, its a big fire(high wattage litebulb) thats placed on top the cage thats the problem. They are heaters of air, not heaters of lizards. A low wattage bulb(small fire) in the cage is better for heating the lizard and limiting dehydration.

Remember, this is only a common guess, as I really have no real idea of what is the matter with your monitor, other then its stressed out.(which causes your problem)

About varanids feeding, they are not snakes, which seem to alter feeding responce at the slightest change. Varanids often feed until after they are dead. Ok, maybe not all the way dead, but at least partly dead. The point here is, feeding is not a good way to gauge them. Watching for things like prolonged soaking, lack of activity, toe and tail loss, no progress, and more, are much better clues to monitor. Cheers and good luck

That IS a great post I have never thought of it as stress factor,I have always thought of at as you said high watt blubs screen tops=dehydration.I have kept Dumerils and I have a black roughneck monitor,I dont use screen tops and I use low wat buld inside the enclosure, and what I have noticed is when the humidity drops below 70% their skin dries out
But you are right a monitor soaking in his water dish says two things to me humidity to low or temps too high.After keeping monitors for a few years now you lean to read them

I usually do not recommend handling a new monitor but in this case I thought it would help loosen the skin

greg

After reading your post, I think you are probably dead on with regards to the stress. That makes sense because he had only been in the larger cage for 3-4 weeks. I've made the same move with many other monitors without a problem, I didn't think about him being stressed due to his behavior or eating not changing.

The cage is enclosed and has a dirt/sand mix. I keep it humid with two water containers about 16 inches under two 50 watt spotlamps witch seems to kick out quite a bit of water. He seems to like the warm water as well, increseing his soak time, I had ASS u ME d the more the better. Is the damage done or is there something I can do now? Thanks for your time, I am grateful for your help.