Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a savanna monitor hes about 9 inches long and he eats 1 fuzzie every other day and 6 crix every other day and he snatches them up quick ive had him for about 3 weeks and i have him in a desert set-up with 2 60 watt bulbs ove a giant flat rock in his cage and at night i switch one of the bulbs with a night time light bulb and 1 uvb light during the day and he has a heat pad under the substrate thats under his tunnel and he has a larg water bowl and for now i have him in a 3ft x 2ft x 1ft

Heres the question when i get him out to hold him he immediatly goes to sleep and in his cage he sleeps most the time.Wuts wrong with him?

Maybe its just me but 2/ 60 watt bulbs and a heat pad sounds extreme for such a small monitor. Is this a screen top enclosure or closed in? Surely you don't need all of those heat sources to heat an closed enclosure of that size. Has to be hard to create a temp gradient with that many heat sources . My guess is... from the information you provided that your animal isnt able to thermoregulate properly. A monitor burrows in order to escape the heat so when those two 60 watt bulbs are too hot for it to bare it goes down only to find more heat? All you need is one of those bulbs and if the basking temp is off with just one then simply raise the platform.

Good luck and save the heat pad for winter.
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James Grigsby
Newark,Delaware

Animals Kept include:
0.0.1 Varanus Salvator (Gator)
0.1.3 Varanus Exanthematicus (Adisa "long term captive" other 3 "yet to be named hatchlings"
2.0 Ferrets (Chaos & Kasha)
1.0 Cat (George)

its screen and i only have the heat pad in there cause in my house at night it gets real cold.

>>its screen and i only have the heat pad in there cause in my house at night it gets real cold.

First thing you need to do is cover that screen with either wood or plexiglass which will help keep your animal hydrated as well as maintain consistant temps. Drill a few small holes in the top and you're good to go. Take out one of the heat lamps and leave the other on 24/7 which wont be a problem as long as the monitor has somewhere to hide thats dark. If it gets cold at night it can go up and bask when it chooses. But if the night time temp with this set up drops below 79 then use the heat pad at night(set to 85) without the lights.
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James Grigsby
Newark,Delaware

Animals Kept include:
0.0.1 Varanus Salvator (Gator)
0.1.3 Varanus Exanthematicus (Adisa "long term captive" other 3 "yet to be named hatchlings"
2.0 Ferrets (Chaos & Kasha)
1.0 Cat (George)