Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive had my Sav about a year now and hes 29 inches long, and over the months hes got progressively slower moving and super uber lazy, now i think this may be common but could there be any other problems? I feed him mice and some low fat dogg food every now and then for snack.

His cage is kind of small but I am currently building a new one, I run heat lamp, spot basking and 5.0 strip uv light

Heres a few pics let me know

His new cage is around 3 foot by 3 foot by 3 foot tall. Will post that when its done.

He has had shedding issues ever since i got him, i dont think his prev owner cared for him much, I soak him in shed ease and warm water all the time and i even rub in the shed ease and nothing really helps, i have to manually take off the dead skin around his toes.

Any information would be great. thanks

(HIS CAGE PICS CLICK)

Are you monitoring (no pun) your surface temperatures? That lizard should have access to at least 130 or so degrees F. If it is too low, that could likely be the cause of your lack of activity, among other reasons.

Cheers,
Mike.

do you ever feed him anything other than the mice, and do you supplement?

try tossing in some hissing roaches with a good quality vitamin dust on them. sometimes shedding problems are related to diet, sometimes it's poor humidity. warm soaks will help, or just being in the bathroom while someone takes a shower.

and of course, as the previous poster said, make sure he's kept hot. it's almost impossible to over do it on heat.
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"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
- Anna Sewell (1820-1878)

Well you can over do it on heat for sure. You just need to give them choices in temperatures. Thats the basic message of this forum pretty much every thread LOL. Say 135F to 72F. We've all seen monitors with burn marks on their backs so lets not over do it. Cool spots are equally as important.

alot of burns ive seen have been from using spot lights as apposed to flood lights.

The entire cage, the substrate, everything.
The cage is said to be 36 inches, the lizard is said to be 29 inches long, the cage is only 7 inches wide, the top of said cage is screen, the substrate is useless, too much heat for that small of a cage, way too much ventilation.
That is not a cage, that is a beef jerky machine. A test for someone who does not believe me, place a piece of raw uncooked beef in a cage setup like that, see what happens in a few hours, it will be dry, hard, and crispy, thats what happens to your lizard by living in there, it just takes longer, first is the organs to shut down.
That lizard needs an entire new environment made from the ground up for a lizard.
Ask specific questions about what to use, and posters here will guide you and give you ideas on how to make a good cage.

Well my new cage is almost done, its completely enclosed with a glass front, the only thing i may change is that i put tiles on the floor of the cage.

So you are just saying this about monitors or all cages with screens are beef jerky cookers?

Aquarium with a screen top and 2 bulbs, the cage is 7 inches wide, and 36 inches long, the monitor is 29 inches, whats wrong with that picture?
The cage should be at least 3x3x6ft or 4x4x8ft, with a solid top (to hold moisture so it doesnt kill the lizard inside from dehydration). The light should be inside the cage.
There should be a foot or so of dirt for substrate in it. This is just the begining of changes.

Well the temp thing is kind of a weird problem, the basking spot per inferred gun is 125, i have the inferred heat lamp mixed with uvb basking one. but he never sits under there. He always sleeps and farts around on the cool side which is about 75-80. Even after i feed him he sits on the cool side, i would say he only spends 20 min per day on hot side. I do soak him every couple days in shed ease trying to fix the shed problem, its really starting to agitate me because i have many reptiles and hes always been a problem with shedding, all my others shed just fine.

As i said in the message i do feed him some low fat dog food as well as the mice, just the dog food is less frequent. I dont think hes to fat, his legs are alittle beefy but thats just sav nature in my mind. When i have him out in the house roaming around he moves at turtle speed.

When i present him with live mice is a beast and all of a sudden perks up and will mangle the little thing. But the problem with the live feeds, is that they were making him super aggressive so i stopped. Not on live feed hes pretty much a lap dog.

Go to proexotics.com thats a great place to start fixing your husbandry methods.
that beef jerky comment was hilarious.

My answer to you somehow got on the bottom of the thread that FR answered above me. Refer to that and hopefully it will help you...thanks...The thread is right below this one...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Yea true I should have did more research but I guess I did not expect it to get this big, this fast. Kind of between a rock and a hard place because I do not have the space to make a huge enclosure.

Not sure what to do /sigh

YOUR BEST BET WOULD BE TO TRY TO FIND A HOME FOR IT. I know you mean well but if you can't house it properly it's terrible for the poor lizard. Additionally I think it would be a big dissapointment to you when it dies as you sound like a nice person who really cares for his lizards. All in all chalk it up to a learning process and don't buy living things on an impulse but research it first. I always have suitable enclosures ready before I aquire anything new. Thank you and I wish you all the luck in your endeavours...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

I dont know how handy you are but i once made under my bed into a huge python cage when i was younger and lived at home.

What about these people i see that have their monitors in their house like dogs/cats, they put them in the bath in the morning and they have food bowls like dogs/cats, and have a spot in the house for basking.

This may sound stupid but hell ive had him for a year and i am really attached, he sits with me at my computer at night time, so were kinda buds.

I have already given you my opinion. The "letting them loose in the house" scenario is a BAD idea.....
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

>>What about these people i see that have their monitors in
>>their house like dogs/cats, they put them in the bath in
>>the morning and they have food bowls like dogs/cats, and
>>have a spot in the house for basking.

I tried that. It was a disaster. First, the temperatures and humidity required for a healthy monitor will make you miserable and rot your house. Second, monitors are very destructive and will dig up your plants, knock over your furniture and knock things off shelves, climb your curtains and blinds (ruining them), dig into your drywall, excrete all over the place, and hide away someplace completely inaccessible where even if you can find them will require demolishing something to get them out. Learn from my mistakes so you do not have to make your own. Keep your monitor in a sturdy, well designed enclosure.

Best of luck,

Luke

The monitor wont live a long life, it may live a few years, it may live a year, it may live a few months in conditions that are not healthy to them. But the inevitable always happens, the monitor suffers the long term effects of dehydration, a low metabolism, etc. The monitor all of the sudden stops eating after becoming inactive for a while and then dies eventually.

Well i took everyones thoughts and views and decided to make some minor changes today until i can get a bigger cage built. Today i got rid of the aspen bedding and bought organic top soil and made it about a foot deep in the cage, i covered the mesh top so it would keep more humidity in. It raised the humidity from about 40 to 70. I got the cool side temp about 85 and hot side 145 per inferred gun. He seems to be more agile now and started to dig holes as well. His skin was dark before and its lightened up, i would guess because he has more moisture.

my plans are to build a 8x8x4 LxWxH plywood cage in my garage.

On a more positive subject, i was reading others people post about taming their monitors down and not getting a nasty bite and such and on my Savannah i can put my fingers right on his mouth and he wont bite me, but as soon as i have meat or a frozen mouse in my hands he will eat that, but even when he goes into killing mode he still will shy away from trying to bite fingers, is that rare? I always have taken him outside his cage to feed if that helps

It is funny how good steps can produce almost immediate results, and those sound like very good steps.

Color may have more to do with stress than anything else, or rather less stress.

Keep pushing forward, there is still lots to do, but you are well off in the right direction now!
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robyn@proexotics.com

ShipYourReptiles.com
Pro Exotics Reptiles

A new cage and proper setup is going to make a world of difference, to his physical and mental well being.

3x3 is still too small, but it is worlds away from the killer cage you have now.

130F hot spot doesn't matter if it is not a usable basking area, and that current one is not. So the thought is on track, but the execution is bad.

Beef jerky, screen tops, too much venting, poor substrate, as already covered, those are all serious issues.

You can rectify it, but the sooner the better. You could be facing lasting, fatal damage in a setup like that. One day the animal is just going to be dead. "Acute death". Organ failure, systemic failure, it can happen at anytime.

Your Sav isn't "enjoying" the cage or the computer hang out time, it is desperately hoping for a better setup. Stress levels are probably off the charts right now. All signs point to that.

Check out our site for monitor info, in the caresheet and FAQ sections, and get a copy of the Bennett and Ravi Savannah book, the best monitor husbandry book available, by far.

Best of luck.
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robyn@proexotics.com

ShipYourReptiles.com
Pro Exotics Reptiles

The monitor may just come to life and suddenly you will think he hates you. Why, because it will have the ability to be healthy and run from you or stand his ground, then you will see how much he likes hanging out with you, then he will be a monitor.

"The monitor may just come to life and suddenly you will think he hates you. Why, because it will have the ability to be healthy and run from you or stand his ground, then you will see how much he likes hanging out with you, then he will be a monitor."

I thought your monitor was pretty tame SHvar? Should a healthy monitor always be suspicious of its keeper? I'm not good at taming these guys so I don't know. It seems to stress mine out so I leave them alone. Mine don't especially like me but I don't personalize it

Most monitors choose on their own to only associate you for a food source, and still fear you. Keep in mind that most times a bosc monitors best defence is to lay still, and act dead (to a predator not exciting to chase, or grab at, or bite, just calmly laying there), this is why so many bosc monitors are thought to be so tame. There are exceptions, it always happens. But I dont tame them, they choose how they are.
Sobek chose her personality before I got her, and when she came here, I just allowed her to be comfortable with that decision. Ive had bosc, a few that were very friendly and outgoing, and some that were defensive, hissy, bitey, and all started out calm, or tame in appearances.

"The monitor may just come to life and suddenly you will think he hates you..."
"..then you will see how much he likes hanging out with you"

I mentioned this because I dont want them to think that the improvements that are supposed to be made will make the monitor untame or mean, that if this happens, its the monitors personality, and it now has the ability to make that decision.
Either way, never expect them to be tame, expect them to be a monitor and respect their choice to be what they are.

Is it better not to bother them too much if they are hissing and tail whiping? I move them out of their hide spots to feed them. Other then that I don't pick them up much.

You shouldnt have to rip a monitor out of it's burrow to feed it. You're trying to make friends, not enemies. I don't use handling at all really, unless I had to. If I went in a grabbed out a monitor, I will not see it for a while after it's gone into a burrow. Having to lift and turn over their funiture is like blowing up someone's house.
I actually like the fact that the monitors can recognize and escape into a "natural" burrow when a threat is around. I've been able to leave dead food at the mouth of the burrow, once a few tongue flicks have processed, I'm sure the monitors will venture out to eat.