Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, what would you do?
Basically, I have my 1 year old Savannah monitor....29" and 3.5pounds. I am thinking she is getting a bit too heavy, so she is on a more roaches (which she loves anyway) and fewer mice diet. ANYWAY. My worry is relating to her seeming to have a slight URI. She is huffing...like when I have her out...and I thought it might just be the impatient " put me down" thing but she was doing it more than I have noticed before. Then she is snorting with that blow salts sneeze sort of thing like iguanas do. I rarely have had her do this but she is doing it more now. No drippy discharges or anything. But heck, I don't want it to get to that point. I am also more paranoid now since I just moved her, in her same 5X3 enclosure into a new 'reptile room' She had a chilly (mid 70s)half day the day we moved everyone and heat was off and on. The room she is in now has ambients that are higher than they were, but her cooler end is still high 70s on the surface if the far wall. No dirt now...she is on newspaper til I get temps where I am happier. But her basking spot is just as it was. She has been laying out as if she is more than warm enough. But, being paranoid with the sneezes, I made her basking area a bit larger....longer than her entire body length now. So this raised her cage temps a bit too but not tons as I have an open top if I need to vent more or less. So the silly thing is now laying away from the basking spot more of the time.
She is still active, pooping tons, soaking once or twice a week.(separate tub...not in here cage) She eats anything offered as always and is out and hunting once she has kicked into food mode. So I guess my only 'symptoms' is the huffy snorts. Should I worry? Should I do more than I have to now? Would you just go to the dirt and let her work it out? (I see dirt as cold and clammy so that was a hesitation...but hey, I am in Upstate NY and it is miserably wet.
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Sonya

As for basking area your monitor needs an area the length of its STV length and wide enough for its body. If fed enough and not too much they dont get overweight, exercise is a good thing for them. As for temps 70s on a cool end is good enough, my monitors have from room temps to a 130 degree basking spot in their cages. If it is avoiding the basking spot it doesnt need to bask at that time or the temps on it or the basking spot may be a bit too high (no higher than 150). After their first year or so monitors need to eat alot less. My smaller Rob Faust cross eats a mouse and a peep plus roaches every day but he is growing to make up for being kept small. My larger cross is 5.5 feet and eats one to two 5 ounce peeps a week now. My timor eats an adult mouse once or twice a week. All are active but need different amounts of food for what they use it for. Monitors dont sneeze off phosphorus like herbivorous reptiles, they remove sodium through urine. 70s for a day will do no harm to a healthy monitor as they survive temps much lower in the wild alot (40-below freezing occaisionally, thats one reason why they hide in a burrow). If your worried check the ARAV sight for a herp vet near you, not just any vet either.

>>As for basking area your monitor needs an area the length of its STV length and wide enough for its body. If fed enough and not too much they dont get overweight, exercise is a good thing for them. As for temps 70s on a cool end is good enough, my monitors have from room temps to a 130 degree basking spot in their cages. If it is avoiding the basking spot it doesnt need to bask at that time or the temps on it or the basking spot may be a bit too high (no higher than 150). After their first year or so monitors need to eat alot less. My smaller Rob Faust cross eats a mouse and a peep plus roaches every day but he is growing to make up for being kept small. My larger cross is 5.5 feet and eats one to two 5 ounce peeps a week now. My timor eats an adult mouse once or twice a week. All are active but need different amounts of food for what they use it for. Monitors dont sneeze off phosphorus like herbivorous reptiles, they remove sodium through urine. 70s for a day will do no harm to a healthy monitor as they survive temps much lower in the wild alot (40-below freezing occaisionally, thats one reason why they hide in a burrow). If your worried check the ARAV sight for a herp vet near you, not just any vet either.

Thanks for the reassurances and info. I am at the watching stage still, as she is otherwise asymptomatic. I have a good vet and also Cornell's Exotics both within 45 minutes so I don't have that worry. It is good to know what others are feeding adults too. She is going to start getting more activity than food for a bit. She is always coming over to beg. But right now she is getting decidedly fat. So I would guess she is done growing and now gotta cut back. Thanks very much.
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Sonya