Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Quick history...

Sav is about 2 years old, about 3' long and last vet visit was 8lbs.

In a 5' x 5' custom enclosure...2 ceramic 150watt heat lamps that gives a hot spot of 115 and if he goes on top of his platform a bit hotter.

Temp in room never gets lower than 82F but usually goes up to 88 during the day.

He has not had the same appetite ever since he was dewormed a few months back. (I wrote a long thread on this a while back on this forum) Flagyl and Panacur.

He became so picky about what he eats and would not accept any insects, mice and/or rats after treatment. At this point I enticed him into eating whatever he would accept since his weight was deteriorating at this point. (Probably spoiled him)

He has been eating turkey meat, eggs, and on the super rare occasion would accept a mouse (super rare occasion)

Anyhow just recently (about 2 weeks ago) he completely stopped eating. Nothing has change in his environment. He is still maintaining great weight but I am fearful.

I spent almost $500 last vet visit (worms)....and am trying everything I can so I don’t have to bring him back. Most important is his health and if I have to I will take him to the vet.

Since it is close to 2 weeks I may not have a choice.

Any suggestions on what I can do?

I know I may get some responses like put the heat up to 140 and so on, but he has been fine with 115F hot spot since I purchased him and does have an option of basking on his hide box which adds another 10 degrees or so.

I used to keep him on 10"s of soil but was told to get rid of it after the worm issues. Now he has been on newspaper for quit some time for cleanliness. ( I know this is not the best, or even a good option, but for the sake of keeping him clean and worm free I did what I had to do to keep out the contaminants. I am able to do full cleanings all the time without worrying about dirty soil) I am going to utilize some Aspen for burrowing purposes...but not until I get him eating again.

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated! I believe I covered most bases as far as explaining the husbandry.

Has a 100 watt heat light as well that is full spectrum and a very large water bowl (5 gallons) that he baths in and gets fresh water e/d.

Thank you in advance!

Eric
-----
Eric

First off get the basking temps up to 130 deg.F. They need that to properly digest their food. And low side should not be lower than 75 deg.F. Get rid of the newspaper and put it on some dirt sand mix, at the very least cypress mulch. If you have a screen top, loose that and get something semi solid on top. And switch to a insect rodent diet. If your monitor is thriving parasites should not be an issue.

Hi,

If you are using paper as a substrate he will probably be dehydrated. Put the soil back in and raise the humidity.

Ok...since last thread I raised the basking temp by elevating the hide spot which now gets close to 130 depending where he lays..

I also put in a large covered hide spot that has moistened aspen beading (i am getting more soil) and also lots of aspen beading that has been moistened in the cage for borrowing.

Today I took him out of the cage and put him outside in the sun light for 3 hours...and here is what I witnessed (just started today)

Completely stopped utilizing his front feet altogether...dragging them in front of himself. I took a syringe and administered 20cc of water with vitamins (calcium powder) as well as some pedialite (about 15 cc or so)

I also put a 150 watt HPS light over his cage for more natural sunlight and some more heat.

It has now been close to 4 weeks of no food...am I loosing him?

He has been offered everything, but since he is obviously not doing well I figured he would not eat a thing. I tried live crickets, frozen thawed rats, mice, turkey meat, eggs...I mean everything.

One thing I have been noticing but didn't think much of it since the vet said it was nothing to worry about is a raised scale on his spine about 2" from his neck.

It has gotten more raised since the past few months and am now questioning if he possibly has a tumor maybe some form of cancer affecting his spine? -

If anyone has any more suggestions I would really appreciate it. I know now the vet if probably the best place to contact but they will charge at least 200 just to walk in the door so I am guessing at least 500 for the visit like last time. I am in between jobs and trying to avoid this but am getting desperate.

Thank you,

Eric
-----
Eric