Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Please bare with me as I have never been on a forum before. I have a 20 month old, 36 inch, male Savannah monitor that I have had for 18 months, since he was 8" long. In the last 4 days he has gone from acting normal and loving life to laying in his enclosure, lethargic, not eating, barely moving, acting like touching him is uncomfortable, and in general very ill. I have changed NOTHING. He lives in a 6x3x3 enclosure with ambient temp of 80, warm hide at 87, basking at 110, and humidity 50%. His diet had never contained rodents. It consists of hissers, crickets, worms, snails, shrimp, occasionally ground turkey, hard-boiled eggs and chicken hearts. Supplimented with repti-cal. He is always fed outside of his enclosure so no chance of substrate ingested. I do know his substrate of soft carpet (that he seems to enjoy nestling in) is not the correct one but he has been on it since I got him. He is given a warm bath at least every other day, has NEVER had any issues with shedding, pooping, or eating. He is taken out daily to go potty in the tub or outside when weather permits. I took him to my local vet. His x-ray was normal. He does have pin worms in his stool (from the crickets I'm sure). Other wise nothing is evident. No discharge, no mouth rot, no respitory issues, no injury, no blockage, and nothing that looks abnormal. He is getting much worse - not eating, not drinking, and limp feeling when you pick him up.

He is our buddy. Please help.

I will try and add a photo that was taken a few weeks ago. If I can't get it on here I will place it on member photos. His name is SPOT.

Honestly I'm a bit disappointed - not a single person had any ideas, suggestions, or comments about my monitor's condition.

So maybe my update will help someone else or trigger a response.

We started him on baytril and after 3 days on it he "seemed" better - at least no worse. The 4th day he actually ate a bit of food. At least enough that we were able to get his meds into him without opening his mouth and forcing him to ingest them. We opted to administer his antibodics via oral rather than chance muscle damage through injection.

We also started some panacur to address the pin worm issue since he has started to eat a bit.

He is far from well and we still have no clues as to what has affected his health.

On the downside - our Argus monitor has started to display the same symptoms and hopefully we caught it sooner and have already started him on baytril.

We have gone over and over our husbandry, cleanliness, handling of animals, and all aspects of our home - nothing seems to click or fit the issue. They are not even housed close to each other, never out together, and hands are ALWAYS washed before any handling, food prep, enclosure cleaning, etc.

Really would like to find the problem so it nevers finds its way back into my home and my lizards!

Im responding because this forun is quit lately. A few posts here and ther, mostly people asking for help with a sick moniter. I cant answer why they are sick or why they dont reply maybe busy, but I will go out on a limb and say its because theirs no interesting NEW topics to discuss, just the same old same old. My best peice of advise is to give up every bit of info you have, and Im sure you you know all your temps basking ,warm side, cool side. Tell what kind of light you have what wattege. Cage size, substraight, how deep, what is it, did you change it recently, there both sick with no contact does the dirt have chemicals? Is it dirt, some wood shavings are toxic to them. Whats in the cage? Show pix of everything if possible, Im not trying to put you on the spot but the more you tell/show and try not to get defensive, the more the expirienced people might be willing to help you. sorry so long, good luck.

If you read back through the old posts alot of the basic ?s can be answered and you might run into something that relates to you. I have learned alot from the many discusions and arguments on the old posts. If you read far enough back you will see how everyone has grown, as a group if that makes sense, Again good luck.

I would bet the farm is it all husbandry related. 98% of all vets have no idea how to provide a monitor with proper husbandry.

The most important things are temps, humidity, substrate, basking site surface temps, and diet. Equal in importance to "husbandry" is "care". Proper care of a monitor is to provide them proper husbandry, provide them adequate caging, provide them adequate privacy, and refraining from molestation (forced handling).

Go to the link below and study the info....and buy the book list on that page.
Ppro Exotics Savannah Care Guide

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Mike Heinrich,
Mike@amazontreeboa.org
www.amazontreeboa.org

Just wanted to thank both responders to my "sick monitor" questions. After reviewing our husbandry of both monitors we increased the basking temp on the argus and added more calcium to his diet and he is back to his "argus attitude" self. Tri-podding, attacking his food, and in general an argus.

Unfortunately the Savannah is still declining......the enclosure temps are 80 ambient, 87 hide area, and 110 basking. We increased the basking to 125 but he now AVOIDS that area altogether and stays in the far corner. We also removed the carpeting and replaced it with dirt. He is getting weaker, stopped eating and drinking, and cannot seem to hardly move at all. He as been getting forced fluids and swallows, but nearly acts like he has a sore throat or that swallowing is hard to do. There is no sign of any mouth issues (as in mouth rot, etc) and still no sign of any respitory problems. His body does not seem to be as limp anymore it seems tense and he holds it in a loose S shape a lot of the time. The xrays showed no broken bones and the bones looked normal (no obvious MBD). I'm afraid we are running out of time and still have no clue as to what we did wrong. I know it is probably something that we did or something with how we are keeping him but don't know what it is!

and just an FYI I do not "moleste" or "force handle" my monitors. They are not tiny babies (2 1/2 ft and 3 ft) and they are only handled when necessary. They both trust me and are not panicked when I pick them up. No biting, tail whipping, or other more disgusting things. Don't get me wrong they do squirm and wiggle and are not totally content, but the trust that I am not going to hurt or eat them is there.

mix some sand with the dirt, and keep it slightly moist. Make sure your enclosure does not have a screen top.

At this point, don't worry too much about food, just let him get his hydration and energy up for a while. His appetite should come back soon.
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Mike Heinrich,
Mike@amazontreeboa.org
www.amazontreeboa.org