Okay guys, this is the story of how I came to own my lovely savannah monitor Raz Ma Taz (Raz for short)
I live in Louisiana, a very small town of LA; called Loranger. It was early December at the time, and probably about 60 degrees out. I was driveing my girlfriend home, when I came over a hill and saw something in the road ahead. Now, I know that anyone else that would have seen this "thing" in the road would have smashed it flat, b/c they would have thought it to be a snake. But, I noticed that the "thing's" head was off the ground, and I instinctively Knew it was a lizard of some sort, so I drove around it. Then it hit me... I have NEVER seen a lizard like this in Louisiana, and I have had my hands on all sorts of critters growing up. I turned my car aound, expecting the lizard to be gone when I got back to it, but it wasn't. I rushed out of the car and looked at it... I carefully picked it up; protecting both myself and the lizard. It didn't put up any kind of struggle. I know a lil about how healthy lizards look, and I always just judge how well fed there are by tail girth. Raz's tail was bony, and I knew he needed heat and food; but what I didn't know what what in the world he was. I looked at his head and then he flicked his tongue out for the first time I had seen. I instantly thought "Wow, this thing is just like a monitor lizard." I told my girlfriend to drive us home (we were only 3 mins from her house) I held the lizard and told here that his head and body build looks like some kind of monitor lizard. Now I have to go back to LSU the next day, and I could keep him in my dorm, so I asked her if she would keep him, and thankfully she had no problem doing that, she has a red-eared slider herself. Now we just had to find something to put him hin, and clear Rubbermaid bin was good for now. I managed what bugs I could scrounge up from outside (which wasn't much, a big wolf spider and some crickets.) As soon as I put the spider in the tin, he/ she went right after it. So I was glad that at least he/she ate something. After a few mins, I ran some warm water in the tub and put the lizard in the tub for about 10-15 mins. I had to leave now, and I told my girlfriend to go get a heat light from a pet store and set it up for him/her, and get something to put some water in. All we had for the night though, was a standard lamp that we took the shade off and set it up, i wasn't great, but it was something. The next day, I went to LSU, and she called me and told me that she got a heat light and talked to the guy at the store about it, and she described it to him. He said it sounded like a savannah monitor. I looked up some things on the internet about this monitor, and when I saw some pictures I was like yea, that is what it is. She bought a mouse to try and give it. She said that he didn't go after the mouse when she put it in there, and then about 30 mins later she said that he ate it and got blood inside the tin......I was like YEA! So now I wanted to know if he had been drinking the water. She had also bought a bottle of electrolyze...some kinda of stress supplement to put in the water that helps with stressed reptiles. She said she couldn't tell if he had been drinking the water, so I told her to fill it all the way up, and the next morning she said that he drank some of it. So I was glad that the lizard had had a decent meal and drank some water. Now I asked her if she thought it was warm enough for him in there, and she said it was pretty hot. I told her to make sure he can get out of the direct heat of the light, so she put a box that he could climb into. A week after I found the guy, I finally got to see him again and bring him to my house. I just got out of college for christmas break/ end of my fall semester. I had a 20 gallon aquarium that I had turned into a terrarium. He has grown from about 18 inches to about 22-23 inches since I got him. I snuck him back up to college, b/c I couldn't leave him at home b/c of my lil brothers and my parents work all the time. So he is chillin down here in LSU enjoying college life. I am working on building him a new cage, b/c he is too big for the 24 x 12 x 12 inch 20 gallon aquarium. Unfortunately, he will probably have to wait till I get out of college this semester for a new one... But I let him walk around my dorm room and he seem to enjoy when I let him out. He seems to have a thing for my dirty clothes, he loves getting in and out of the pile.
Talk about being at the right place at the right time...for both me and RAZ, b/c 2 days after I found him, we had 4-5 days of freezing weather 20-30 degrees, and I doubt under his stressed and starving condition he would have made it much longer had I not found him.
I don't know how he got out into the wild, whether he escaped someone's attempts at keeping pet or he got bigger than they really thought he would get, all I know is that I am glad I found him and was able to keep him alive...I will try and get some pictures of him up asap.
