Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all, first post here and I just got my Black Rough-Neck this morning.... and it's fairly dehyrdated. Aside from misting the enclosure and keeping temps and humidity up and providing fresh and clean water is there anything else I should be doing?

I've only had it for about 12 hours so I didn't think it would be a wise idea to handle it much for a few days or soak it right away.

The little one is about 16-18" total length. The FedEx guy left it at the backdoor without notification and I didn't notice for about three hours (live in chicago... about 40 today outside)

Cage is 36" by 18" and has a backing spot of 105 and air temps about 80-85.... humidity is about 40% before misting and about 80 afterwards.

If anyone happens to keep Black Rough-Necks and has any tips for me I'd also appreciate it.

Thanks

Shawn

You said before misting it was 40% and after 80% humidity. What you want is a humid cage without having it be wet all the time.
Looks like your using an aquarium if it has a screen top cover it. You can use plexiglass,tinfoil,etc. Just put a few wholes in at first to allow ventalation and then later if needed add more.

If the cage sucks the water from the air it will also suck it out of your monitor. Since he/she just arrived I would not handle it much. So no soaking in the tub etc. best if the cage itself allows for proper conditons to rehydrate.

I would up the basking surface temps (120-150), this can be achieved by raising the basking surface or lowering the heat source. Your ambient temps do not allow for much thermoregulation either. If your using a high wattage bulb try using a 65watt or even a 45watt. I use both halogen outdoor floods and incandescent indoor floods. This should give you a better over all gradient with your ambient temps.

Just be sure to check and recheck everything after modifying your cage.

I do infact have a screen top but I keep some cloth towels on top of it to hold heat and humidity in (or so I thought anyways). The light bulbs are just plain 60w household bulbs.

I did soak it for about 30 mintues this afternoon before reading your post, but I'm gonna hold off on it for a few days. I placed some tinfoil over most of the cage and misted it again, pretty heavy too.

I did have two spots going, but I turned one off and the cool end is now in the upper 70's.

Thanks for the advice

Shawn

Heres a pic of of a BR thats needed hydration, I have a humid room but its the same principal. I use an old trick to hydrate monitors, i used pre-killed mice, looks like you need a small mouse and inject him full of water or pedialite, i inject it everywhere under the skin and stomach differnt places unti its leaking out and its big and bloated looking. I do this just in case they dont drink, i too wouldnt handle him for a while. You can get a syringe from any local feed store, Hopefuly he will eat the mouse.

Injecting a mouse with water? Why do all of that trouble if the cage is the problem? Even if given an IV if the enviroment is draining the water in the air and from the monitors body it won't matter how much water you pump into them. Sounds like a bandaid approach.

I would fix the cage first then the monitor will fix itself. I do not recall ever having one that did not know how to drink water. Unless of course your monitor is half dead and cannot move, then maybe an IV is needed. But still give the IV in an enviroment that will help support it.

Thanks for the idea crocmonitor, but I think mine is too small for mice as it's total length is about 18". It may be able to eat pinkies, but unless I'm wrong I've always been told they are more fat than anything else since they only eat mothers milk and their bones are still forming. But seriously thanks for the idea about the humidity room, I did fire up a humidifier in the same room as the monitor and ambient humidity went up to about 60% without any misting.

I covered the top of the cage with saran wrap and tinfoil next to the light bulbs and bumped up the wattage from 60 incandescant to 100w incand....

I'm going to build a solid top for the enclosure this weekend, and that should take care of the problem. Thanks for the pointers JPsShadow.

Tempgun from PE should be here soon too so we'll see about that...

Thanks much
Shawn

it is perfectly fine to feed your blackroughneck pinkies. You would also be suprised on the size of food monitors can eat.

When you get the temp gun be sure to check and recheck your temps. Using the higher wattage bulb after covering the top might bump the ambients to high.

Wow, that's a nice and hydrated looking rough neck.

I may be completely off on this, but if the monitor is not hydrated enough, would that not cause it to have digestion issues? So if I fed it a pinkie and it then regurgitated the meal I am now worse off... well the monitor is I should say.

The monitor IS drinking water, but I only see it drink once a day and only for a few seconds where it then goes back to the cork curl and sleeps (alot). I have handled it some, and aside from being skinny (hips and shoulder bones are visible)and dehydrated it appears somewhat active and will watch me if I get close.

Temp Gun did come and basking is about 105 according to that, but I do have to open the top for a few seconds to check it but I don't think that cools it a great deal in such a short amount of time. Ambiet air is about 85 and cool end is 73... humidity is up to about 70% when I came in to check it from overnight, so the saran-wrap and tinfoil helped out quite a bit... so thanks for that advice.

Sorry for the super-posts, but I want to make sure all my bases are covered... in your opinion when is a good time to start feeding and start soaking... it arrived wednesday morning.

I do not soak my animals. I let the cage enviroment solve the hydration problems. I know some do let theirs soak so if you want to do that you can. I would let it get used to its new surroundings first. Stress can keep them from recovering.

I wouldn't handle the little one until it has settled in nicely. There is no set time on recovery so I cannot tell you a date or time. I go by the monitors appearance.

You can still offer food just do it in small amounts. A pinky mouse is not that big of a meal. Just do not over do the food until it is rehydrated. Once the cage itself is setup to hold moisture and not suck it up, then the animal can begin to rehydrate and retain the water it drinks.

Be sure to offer plenty of hide spots and raise the basking platform (log, branchs, etc.) closer to the light to up the basking surface temps..

yea, its a very temp fix as its only a jumpstart to get him feeling better fast, the enclosure setup needs to right.

Im curious did that roughneck monitor make it? I am wondering because you said he had hydration problems. You have a screen cage in that rubbermaid. Did you close that up to encourage humidity?

thanks