Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've read a lot, been visiting a lot of forums. My prasinus is still not quite fine. It's not too bad either, just won't eat much.

I corrected the cage quite a few times. Tried Retes Stacks but it didn't seem to enjoy it much, so I removed it and just keep some cork tubes so it can choose where to stay.
There are lots of hiding options, at different heights, different temperatures, etc. I even installed a bird nest in the highest point and have seen it using it once or twice.

Seems like it's favourite hiding spot is behind the background. It stays there most of the time. It's usually active from 7am to around 3pm, then it hides.

I was even thinking about installing a heat tape behind the cage so part of the monitor's favourite hide spot will be heated and it can choose it's own temperature. What do you guys think?

I also put a lot of folliage so it can feel safer.
Today I covered the heat spot with some more folliage to create a more closed enviroment in that particular place.

Temps and humidity are fine.

The only problem is that it doesn't eat well. Maybe a cricket a day, sometimes less (the monitor is 25g, around 5-6 inches SVL). It is not getting thinner but not getting bigger either.
It refuses mealworms, pinkies, any kind of meat.
Sometimes it will accept eggs, I offer right from a spoon and it licks a bit, but also not a lot.

It has been parasite checked once and it is clean. I'll collect some more stool samples and repeat the test.

Here's the cage. It's pretty dense with leaves but I keep it like that for privacy reasons:

The hot spot (screen cover with plastic):

Bird nest:

This was the only time I actually caught it eating:

It can't be that hard to keep a prasinus.. Something is still very wrong.

My black tree has a similar pattern of daily activity. He waked up around 8 and roams the enclosure for a while. he finally settles in and basks for a little while, both under the light a foot or 2 away. Then between 3 and 5 he will slide behind his bark background and I wont see him until the next morning. As long as the ambient temp in your cage isnt to low he should be fine on temps. I dont know if I would put heat tape behind the cage because he might like the cool area.
Can you give exact temps for cool side, hot side, and basking? Also how often are you changing up the cage? When you put something new in are you giving him time to get used to it?

The heat pad I would put only covering part of the backside, so the monitor could go cooler or warmer just by moving up and down behind the background.

The heat spot is around 120-130F, and the cage has all kinds of temperatures as low as 75F, with hiding spots everywhere. Humidity is 60% or higher. I mist the cage daily and often I see the monitor drinking form the droplets in the glass or leaves.

I'm definitely not messing with the cage often. The last time I changed something was 3 weeks ago. Today I added some more folliage around the basking site and he/she seemed to be a bit more confortable, even sleeping a few inches away from the basking spot, completely uncovered. Sometimes it also rests inside the cork tubes but always go to sleep behind the background.

Once a week or so I end up letting it out of the cage. On these ocasions I find it scratching the glass door, like it was begging to go out, so I just open and gently put my arm nearby. It flicks the tongue a couple times and with no hesitation jumps and climbs over me and then explore the room outside. After 10-15 minutes maximum, I put it back to the cage so it can bask again. It never shows any kind of fear reaction.

I would say this was a perfect lizard in all aspects. Except that it doesn't eat. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I hope it is just a matter of time, but I have it for around 2 months now and don't see a lot of improvement.

Try feeding it like after an hour (when it has the chance to warm up)when it starts becoming active. Don't try to schedule the feeding time during which it is convenient to you. You should schedule it when the lizard is awake and active. And try to do it the same time everyday because reptiles (and most animals)love routine. They get quite stressed out when their routine is disrupted.

I will try to.

But what I was doing is just leaving a deli cup with 4-5 crickets inside all the time, so it can eat whenever it wants.

I leave to work early, so there is no other option than leaving the food there.

Are you providing 24/7 heating? If not I would.

There's something to be said about simple raise up cages. If I were to start with young prasinus I would set them up in raise ups similar to what FR uses for everything, a 10 gallon with a solid plexi/lexan top, light mounted inside, with a pile of stacks. Once they were big enough that they could barely turn around in the thing (well not quite that bad) then I'd move them into a "real" cage.

Nate, the cage is quite small.

The folliage is more for hiding than decoration. The cork tubes the same.

I wasn't providing 24/7 heat, but I installed a heat pad covering part of the background, where it sleeps and spends many hours of the day. It can choose a cooler or warmer spot.

It least it drinks a lot and doesn't look thin or dehydrated. I'm just affraid the growth stunts to the point of not recovering.

It may not reach it's genetic potential but you'd be suprised how much size can be put on once they are supported, even into a few years old.