Thanks in advance fore any help, input or assistance. Apologies for the length, just trying to be thorough. Pictures at the bottom.
He is a Dumeril as you will see below, almost 10 months old, 11” snout to vent and about 24” tip to tip.
Current set up: 75gal long aquarium, plastic covered screen lid to keep in humidity with cut outs for the lights. Low-end temp 85f, basking 120-125f, temp at bottom of the substrate on cool end 81 and 84 on warm end. Substrate is about 9” of Zoo Med’s Eco Earth is a coconut fiber on top of about .5” of what I will call river pebbles that are the rocks he has been swallowing. Humidity is kept between 60-80%. Lastly he has a 9” diameter by 2.5” deep pool on the warm end.
He has been in this enclosure set up in the above fashion since the end of December of last year. Until 2 weeks ago he has been eating 3 to 5, 5-7g fuzzies 5 to 7 days a week for 5 months now. I leave food out daily and occasionally he would skip a meal.
His behavior prier to 2 weeks ago: He early on made tunnels and burrows benith the substrate that he would usually stay hidden in. He seemed to spend most of his time above ground at night. I would quite often see him out of in his pool at 4-5am and I could tell from scat and substrate in the pool that he was in the water daily. I handle him very little and have not had him out in over 2 months. I assumed he might spend more time out as he gains size and confidence.
Starting 2 weeks ago: He stared missing meals and I noticed a few pebbles in the pool. Stated above the pebbles are on bottom of the enclosure and I felt they where heavy to stick to him. This weekend when I changed his water I noticed probably 10-15 rocks in the pool. As of today he hadn’t eaten in 4 days and had not been in the pool in 2 days.
I decided to dig him out of one of his burrows and have a look at him. He looked to have good weight and he felt strong. I pushed on his stomach and could feel rocks rubbing against each other. I soaked him for a short time and cleaned him off. I took him to the guy I got him from and he recommended soaking him longer and a few other things. Back home I put him back in the tub in 4-5” of water at about 95f and he swam for a while. Fortunately I kept watch on him because after about 20 minutes he started opening his mouth and slowly shaking his head left and right underwater. Finally the rocks started coming out but it was taking longer then I liked I feared he might aspirate some water. I lifted his head above the water but he slid himself off my hand and kept shaking his head. I repeated this 3 more times. The last time he went completely limp under water. Fearing he might be drowning I immediately took him out however he was completely limp and not responding. Holding him tightly I swung him down ward with hid head pointing down to try to remove any water from his lungs and airway. He slightly responded and went limp again I repeated the process until he seamed to come around although he seemed dazed for about 5 minutes.
He is now in a smaller enclosure with NO pebbles, with a minimal substrate of Exo Terra Forest Bark, several hides and the same pool for closer observation.
Finally the questions:
Why is he swallowing the pebbles?
Humans can aspirate water seem fine then hours or days later drown, is this possible in monitors?
Other then removing the pebbles this weekend does anyone have any other suggestions?
Looks OK here but I have already felt the rocks in his stomach.
After he threw up the rocks and started return to his normal self.
Yep, that is 32 rocks and they came out of him. Quarter only for scale.
Thhanks again for any help!
