Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently bought a blue tree monitor and its been doing well up until roughly the past 2 days. I felt that the cage could use more heat so I put in a ceramic heat emitting bulb and ever since earlier that day he(I think) has been hiding on the cool floor of the cage under the plants which is the opposite of where he usually spends his time. I didn't bother him at first but since its been around 36-48hrs I coxed him out and put him up near higher heat and he is acting drunk. Swaying back and forth and just not himself. Temperatures range from probably mid 70s to over 110. 6'tallx4f'x3' enclosure. I mist him 3 times a day and have a large water bowl on te ground just to boost humidity and each time I mist him I try and make sure I see him drink. The past couple days prior to him hiding he would drink for probably close to 5 minutes of my spraying at his head before he seemed uninterested. Could he be dehydrated? I haven't fed him any mice recently in fear that he's dehydrated, just crickets. Any ideas or thoughts??

Hi, you say the temps "probably" range between 75 to 110f, how are you measuring them and the humidity? I`d advise between 75 to 95f cool to warm end ambient (air), and the basking area should be up around the 130 to 140f range, (surface temp).
Do you have any photos you can put up?

I have crappy thermometers I must have gotten from a pet shop for reptiles at one time but they seem accurate as far as when they are out side of the cage they read the correct room temp. This is what I used and so it is ambient. I need to invest in a heat gun really though. I do not know the humidity, I thought spraying te cage down multiple times a day and having the water in the cage with many plants should help. I tried multiple times to put up photos I just hate that it needs a url for the picture I keep ending up creating a photo bucket account like once a year just for this site because I always forget the password. Is there any way besides a site like photo bucket?

Hi again, you MUST get a digital hygrometer/thermometer with a probe asap, they are extremely accurate, and are quite cheap to buy, just try "ebay".... without that, you have no idea what the real temps are. It`s absolutely useless putting a thermometer outside of the tank, if you mean sticking it on the glass, it`s only giving the temp of the glass, NOT the inside temps!
I use Photobucket, although I`m not too good at putting pics up myself.

I only took it outside the cage to see if it was accurate with the ambient room temperature of the room. I will look into digital however. Thanks for the advice

hmmm cant think of a site that wont email you your password if you forget it. Wierd, Try flickr but once again you will need a password to remember or if you forget have them email it to you to reset it. Its pretty easy.

There are numerous infectious causes that can have symptoms like that.

Assuming you have a WC animal, I wouldn't discard the possibility. Temps seem fine.

I'd say it can't be too dry if you mist 3 times a day and see it drinking.

Is there any chance it got intoxicated by anything? Paints, pesticides, drugs?

Does the eyes look bright or are they deep in the head?

I wouldn't wait too much, it's a rare and expensive lizard.