Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 2 year old argus monitor that stopped feeding.

Usually it feeds nonstop but for the last week he stopped eating. I usually fed it 8 to ten mice on the weekend and three or four more every other day when it was actively searching for food -- scratching at the door and digging by it.

I got this animal from a friend who was keeping it horribly and i fear that i am not doing it any better.

I have it in a 85 gallon aquarium that has 8 inches of dirt and aspen mixed and about 2-4 inches of birtch leaves on top of it. The monitor digs under his 1 foot by 10 inch water dish for a burrow.

Its left side is a little swollen it looks like.

I don't think it has gone since it stopped eating.

It was licking by its vent today also.

I don't know what the humidity in the cage is but the substrate isn't dry and it is sheding better(easier?) than it was at my friends.

His basking temp is 110 degrees and the ambient temps are from 75 degrees to 87 degrees. I measured his sking temp also it was 100 degrees around his stomach and about 96 at his head and tail areas. This was measured by a temp gun but i couldn't get steady temps of the monitor itself. (what should the skin temp of a monitor be?)

Could it not be eating because of constipation?

Is it just starting a shed cycle? I have an adult female Argus and when she starts her shed, she shows very little interest in food for a good couple of days. She will eat, however, fractionally smaller portions than usual. Once she gets a good star ton her shedding, she goes back to the pig she usually is. That's my input, but as usual, taking your argus to a good herp vet never hurts, you never know what kinda damage it could have undergone in your friend's poor environment.

Looking swollen and stopped eating says gravid to me. She may just have eggs. Make sure she has a good place to lay them.

Or maybe it is something else, but from your info, gravid is my best guess.

Luke