About three weeks ago, I noticed that my male sav was no longer interested in food, so I took him to the vet, who did a blood test and discovered that Cortes's kidney function wasn't good. Since I had to leave town, I boarded Cortes with the vet so that they could give him fluid treatments and monitor his condition. Unfortunately, I guess the little guy was too sick, and he died yesterday. As bummed out as I am by that, he hasn't been a very hardy lizard, and he always seems prone to digestive problems. The vet wanted to do an autopsy to find out exactly what happened, but in the meantime I wondered if there are any husbandry mistakes that lead to kidney failure. I try to take the best care of my monitors as I know how to, but Cortes _was_ my first monitor, so I know I wasn't perfect.
He lived in a 6 foot by 3 foot enclosure (he was only 36 inches long, but I know that was on the small side) and during his lifetime he had newspapers, cypress mulch, peat moss, dirt, CareFresh (made of wood pulp), and aspen shaving substrates. I finally settled on aspen shavings at the recommendation of my vet because Cortes would eat vast quantities of dirt. Of course he had hide spots of various sorts, a tub of fresh water, and a basking spot of between 100 and 120 degrees. His diet consisted largely of dusted crickets when he was young, then mice, with the occasional serving of monitor food as recommended by the vet. He got soaks approximately 3 times a week--he seemed to enjoy swimming and drinking running water. I also let him roam free (supervised) whenever I was home and awake. He had no neurological symptoms and seemed to be alert and engaged with his environment right up until the end.
Did I do anything clearly wrong? I still have another savannah left to take care of, and I don't want to repeat any obvious mistakes.
