Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have one Yellow Ackie in a 4x2x2 Enclosure. There is plenty of substrate, and the temps are good, I beleive. He only comes out of his burrow for 2 hours a day, however. When he is out, I notice that he is sneezing a few times. Also, some of him claws are turning black and starting to fall out. Should I be concerned, and should I take him to the vet. He got really stressed out, the day after I got him, when a tree branch fell into the basement and there were cleanup crews making noise all day. I got him Thurs, and he is 2.5 months old. Thank You.

the black nails could be due to constriction of his toes, look at them. is there old shed that hadnt come off the toes?
and if i remember right you have Cypress Mulch as substrate, correct?
i've noticed when i use that my monitors/tegus or whatever, they tend to sneeze. though dirt doesnt seem to do anything to them. if you got him Thursday then he is still probably adjusting, and im sure the tree branch/noise didn't help that any. i normally leave my new lizards alone for about 1 month before regularly "bothering" them. is he eating? what are your temps on him? i looked at some of your photos, cant remember if you have more than 1 ackie in that cage.
later

My substrate is peat, cypress and sand. The temp is 80 in the cage, there is 1 75 w heat lamp at the top of the cage and one 7 inches from the top of the rock pile. He is eating a little, but havent seen him go near the water.

np

I'm not sure, I dont have a temp gun

I wouldn't worry too much about the sneezing,
or the shyness. Peat is dusty and monitors
"sneeze" now and then, it's sorta like 'farmer
blowing' for them. Some young monitors will
hide alot.
The toes falling off does sound bad, take it
to a vet experienced with reptiles if you can.
You can use a plain old thermometer to check
the basking spot temp. Make sure the thermometer
has a high enough range, then just put it on the
basking spot for 15 minutes and it should give
you an idea of the basking spot temp. Of course
it is not as accurate as using a tempgun but it's
better than nothing.

NT