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How active should a baby water Monitor be?NP

Sorry, didn't mean to blow you off last time. Water dragons are however totally different from monitors. It would help out thought telling us how the monitor is acting right now and what your concern is. I adopted my monitor already full grown so I'm not sure how active a you water should be. A liilter more information would help though. Is it eating? Is it drinking? How is the temps and humity in your enclosure? How big is your enclosure?

First, I agree with hbailey on providing more information. We might not be able to diagnose subtle problems, but if your water monitor is sitting with his eyes closed and completely lethargic we can tell you there's a problem (we might not be able to tell you what the problem is though)

That said, I presently have 6 baby salvators and have kept many more. For the 5 newborns they are active but not always observably so. If I go down to look at them, they will be in one spot (for those out in the open). If I return 20 minutes later, most of the time they will have moved somewhere else. They might even be walking around. If I leave and return 20 minutes later again, they will again be in different spots (most of the time). That obviously applies only to those out in the open, I have no idea what the ones hiding are doing. Sometimes, one will sleep in the water and he will remain there for long periods of time, but this is infrequent. My babies do not run in fright when I approach, but they've gotten used to seeing my ugly mug... it was the first thing some of those unfortunate animals saw! Joke aside, they are pretty tolerant of my presence, though that does vary at times and is partly dependent on what I am doing. Some will even tolerate me reaching in their enclosure, although there is one little guy who attacks me when I mess with him (and he's soooo cute when he does).

Jalepeño is in my living room and sees me a lot (So does Sobek, a nile, also in my living room). When Jalepeño is out in the open he is frequently wandering about his enclosure and stops for periods of time under his light. He does not move quickly, but walks with a seemingly confident stride. He knows I am probably not going to harass him, and my dogs and I are not a threat to him. He walks quickly, but not at sprint speed, to his hide area when he knows I am going into his enclosure or I do something unexpected. However, sometimes I do several days without seeing him as I work during the day and he mostly hides at night.

So that's how active my water babies are.
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^x^ Bloodbat ^x^

How's your argus? Just got mine in December and "she" is growing like a weed. She's actually tamer than my salvator, but I think that's a cage issue. My cage design sucks...no sliding doors and a door at one end. Worst yet is no hide spots, but working on that (shame on me), that's what happens when your a newbie building a cgae. I also didn't use substrate. I built it modeling it after what she had lived in for fifteen years. The only difference is the height she sits at. The cage bottom in her previous cage was waist high and now she sits close to the ground. I know you have a room for your salvators, but if you have any cage plans you'd like to share, I'd appreciate it. I'd like to incorp. a water pump/filter to keep the water a little cleaner at all times. Not sure how you handle your water, but changing the water daily is a time consuming process how it's currently set up. Anyway thanks for helping out.

I agree with both Bloodbat and Hbailey's posts. Tell us specifically your animal is doing or not doing. If it's eating and pooping normally and has good body weight, I wouldn't worry too much if you're not seeing it often. If the animal is listless, hangs out in the open with eyes closed and seems listless, flabby, thin, etc., then there is definitely a problem - probably some sort of URI. Babies can pick them up fairly easily. The two babies I am currently raising (housed together) have different personalities with one mostly staying out of view, but the signs are there that "she" is moving around when I'm not around (most of the day), and the other has a little more of a bold personality and usually couldn't care less who's looking at "him". He also has the habit of climbing up to his basking spot and jumping onto me for some "out" time if the door is open. I've got video of this too (if anyone is interested it's under 3megs and emailable). So basically, let us know why, specifically you are concerned. Also, wasn't your little monitor just treated for a RI? Billy

>>How active should a baby water Monitor be?NP

Yes, the monitor was treated for RI but a few symptoms are still aparent. He doesnt gape as much any more and hardly coughs.But, there has been somting bothering me sence I purchased him. He has what looks like a bump at the top of his spine, and his lower jaw is a bit swollen. I have assumed that this is metabolic bone desiese and I am stuffing calcium pills inside of the pinkies he is eating. Aslo pinkies are the only thing the he will eat, he wont tuch crikets or mealworms any more.

How big is the monitor? MBD usually won't manifest until the animal is close to a year old. I would have those two spots checked out, maybe radiographed to see what it is. Also have some bloodwork done to check calcium levels. Honestly, I haven't heard of too many monitors suffering from MBD so I would try and think about either traumas he could have possibly suffered or possibly some other sort of subcutaneous infection. Just some random thoughts. Either way, have him checked by a vet and best of luck. Billy

>>Yes, the monitor was treated for RI but a few symptoms are still aparent. He doesnt gape as much any more and hardly coughs.But, there has been somting bothering me sence I purchased him. He has what looks like a bump at the top of his spine, and his lower jaw is a bit swollen. I have assumed that this is metabolic bone desiese and I am stuffing calcium pills inside of the pinkies he is eating. Aslo pinkies are the only thing the he will eat, he wont tuch crikets or mealworms any more.

Same question as Billyboy, how big is the monitor? From what I can tell as they get larger they tend to stop paying attention to smaller pray. My 5 month old argus just ignores crickets now, but will still eat superworms. So now I'm shopping for hissing roaches to go along with the rodent diet. I agree with Billyboy, go get those bumps checked out.

if a calcium deficiency is the problem, calcium alone will not rectify it. The calcium needs to be combined with vitamin D3 so the calcium can be absorbed. Most commercially sold calcium supplements for reptiles seem to include vitamin D3, anyway, but it's worthwhile checking.