Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,i just purchased a young blackthroat monitor from the New mexico reptile expo this weekend and i brought him home,put him in his new enclosure,ran to the store and bought a couple mice.Well...that day (saturday) he ate three small mice for me with no promblems.Anyways..now he wont eat for me at all and he never comes out of his hide box,i have left him alone(no handling..ect) every since the first day.Is this normal or should i be worried?This isnt my first monitor,i have an adult Savannah but she has never once refused a meal from the day i brought her home.Well thanks in advance......
CJ

your question is so similar to all newbie questions, but like all of them you have left out everything about your enclosure and husbandry. all details help.

thanks, andrew

you aren't the same one that recently posted on varanus.nl are you?

andrew

Refusal to eat is usually a sign something is wrong.

Recheck husbandry, but sometimes it takes a little longer for a wc to become accustomed to new surroundings. What worked for one may not work for another, you may need to adjust how/what you offer/do.

All that being said, they can go a long time without eating, so that in itself is not a problem, but what is causing it, may very well be a problem that has to be resolved. I would guess it is something stress related/acclimation, but you will need to figure it out, no one here can see the animal or your husbandry.

Good Luck,

--Robert

ok well lets see......he/she is about 19" long and is supposed to be CB.He is being housed in a 7'x3'x2' enclosure with a hide box on each end of the enclosure and the substrate i am using i peat moss and it is about 4" deep. He has two basking areas,one is 115 degrees and the other is 105.The cool side of his enclosure is about 80-85 degrees and there is a repti-sun 5.0 UVB bulb in the cage with him.He has a large water bowl to soak in and pletly of rocks and branches for exersize.I fed him three small mice on Saturday and since then i have offered him more mice,turkey diet and large mealworms and he has refused everything.I know you cant see the lizard or his enclosure but i explained it the best i can.
Thanks,CJ

from what you say there is not anything horrible about your setup.

you could up the basking to 130ish. i use a bank of bulbs to do this,like two 45s on one side. get rid of the peat moss, it sucks. get dirt or sandy loam without clay or something similar. scatter the hide boxes around the cage, put a board down on the bottom for it to burrow under. make the substrate about a foot deep, minimum 8 or 10 inches. when it gets bigger you will need a minimum of an 8x4.

if you make some of these changes in the next day or two and it is still not eating, take it two a vet, our hands are tied from there.

also, don't be afraid to leave a dead mouse overnight, just remove it the next morning if it hasn't eaten it.

andrew

Like Rob said, starvation isn't a concern, so don't get to upset if your buddy misses a few meals. I'm just a beginner at keeping monitors, but to me it just sounds like an acclimation issue. I would offer him a few more hides in various temperature ranges. so the animal can choose the right temps and feel secure at the same time. For the time being you could also block of the front of the cage so the monitor can't see anything which can spook him. I did this with my Ackie for about a week, and it seemed to help. I wouldn't handle him until he is well adjusted to his new home. I know how you feel as my ackie did this for about two weeks. He just hid at the bottom of his stack, i didn't see him eat either, although I left a few extra crickets in the cage incase he was really hungry. It took over a month before he would stay in the open when he saw me enter the room. I've had him almost 2 months now and I still don't handle him, but if he is really hungry he will take crickets right from my fingers. So take it easy, your temps sound good, size of enclosure is adequete, he recently ate. Just give him some time and space. Hope this helps, goodluck. Clint