Reptile & Amphibian Forums

we just got a new monitor....he's about a foot and a half long

we were just wondering if basking in his water dish is a normal thing for them....he's been sitting in it for about 2 hours now

also, we were wondering what would be good to feed him and how often....some sites say you should offer them food everyday but we tried to give him some crickets and he doesn't seem to even care they are in his cage crawling all over him.

thanks bunches for your help in advance :0)

Melly

A few questions need to be answered first...

What kind of monitor? Other than "foot and a half"...

Soaking - monitors like to soak some times, but too much can be from dehydration - where did you get this monitor? Was it well taken care of? Is it a water monitor, or one of the desert species?

As far as not feeding, could be something simple (not hungry) to something complex...what are the temps, parasites, other illness, etc.

Let us know some more info and I'm sure you can get some help.

All the best,
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Phil Black
www.VaranusWeb.com

ok, sorry it's taken me so long to answer all these ?'s....my computer wouldn't let me sign in to reply

we have a savannah monitor...we got it from a reptile show here in kansas city this last sunday Oct 19th....eversince my bf was little he's wanted one...he said that he was over at a friends house sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor and the lizzard crawled in it with him while he was asleep and when he woke up he felt something rough by him and pulled back the cover and saw him...lol

ummm, he doesn't have any parasites that we can see and i think he was taken care of....the other one the guy had was big(about 3 feet) and mean, so we didn't want him
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*~*Bo and Melly*~*

To answer your first post its not unusal for your savanna monitor to soak in its water bowl. Mine loves to soak in his and to answer you feeding question they will eat when they are hungry and like yours they will there not caring about the crickets crawling all over them. Young monitors can eat mealworms,small earthworms,crickets,other insects,as well as right sized baby mice If your will eat non living food you could try ZooMed's can o' grasshoppers or other commercial reptile food. Just be carefull to feed appropriate sized food and I hope I helped you with your question.

My goodnes!!!! Why in the world would you get a monitor lizard!?

Curious in Cali...

p.s.(it helps to know what kind of monitor you have)