Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm going on vacation for 4 days. What do I do with my monitors?

I just make sure they have clean water before I leave. Of course with hatchlings Ive had someone check to make sure the bulb doesnt blow after a few days but nothing else. Its better that in such a short time noone messes with them especially when they dont know what they are doing. Ive read a few posts in the past where a monitor or other animals were left in the hands of a friend or brother and some unfortunate accident seems to always occur (seems more like excuses from irresponsible friends and family members).
4 days is not long at all, if the cage is set up right then they can do fine without eating for 4 days. Of course with young monitors or ackies Ive just left them a bunch of crickets or gave them a big meal before I left for that short of a time.

Give them clean water and pay the powerbill, make sure the lights work and away you go.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Not that im planning to, but every year in the month of July, i normally go to the beach or mountains(spanish snake find-catch-let go) for around half a month. Still can i leave my 40cms BT alone with loads of food( he would eat em in the first day, suppose you know that) or take him with me somehow?
regards,
Sheri

That it can eat daily small meals while your gone that will also work. I found that my mom doesnt mind and she likes the lizards. I just make sure she has long hemostats there to use and tell her how long to defrost the rodents for. I never went on a vacation while I had my current monitors as hatchlings, I wanted to keep better control of unforseen problems.

>>I'm going on vacation for 4 days. What do I do with my monitors?

I just turn off the lights. Low temperatures are the monitor "off" switch. They can spend months in cool semi-dormancy and remain healthy (at least the species I keep can, I don't know about all of them, perhaps salvators or tree monitors would shrivel up and die or something). I don't feed them for a day or so beforehand. When I get back, I turn the lights back on, wait a day for them to warm up, and then continue as normal.

Good luck,

Luke

Realistically, the best thing to do is to plan ahead. Find someone with more than half a brain that is an animal lover and cares for their pets like they were their children, make sure they are willing and available at the time you need them, then spend a week or so at minimum teaching them how to feed your animals. Have them do the feeding and general maintenance a few times as practice while you are there to make sure that both they and the animal are safe together. (The last thing you need is for the person doing the feeding to panic the first time they see a feeding response in your otherwise fairly placid lizard and decide they are too scared of it to feed it or water it!)eThen leave a daily listing of what gets done with what animal, how much, how often, etc. Try to be as clear and simple as possible. Give them the vet's number and a number to call you.

This may sound like a lot of work compared to the above suggestions, and I'm certainly not saying they are wrong.

I'm going to have to fly to Kansas when my daughter has her baby. My husband loves the lizards, but the care and handling is my responsibility. He will be caring for the managerie when I'm gone, and the above was his suggestion to make his job easier and to make sure that my 30 lizards of 13 different species (including hatchlings)get what they need while I'm gone.

Good luck, and plan ahead! Then, when you get home and all your animals are fat and sassy, buy your "sitter" a good steak diner and a six pack!

Leslie

If you leave your animal for more than 24 hours. You are breaking the law. If for some reason you get turned in, found out, or accidental discovery of the abandonment. You can and will be prosecuted and or fined. I know from experience. YOu should find someone who checks on them at least once every 24 hours. Animal control wil leave a 24 hour notification about possible abandonment. If they come back and ther was no response they will confiscate and prosecute you. NOT FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you leave a mamal or bird alone for more than 24 hours its a bad idea. But to leave reptiles or amphibians alone for 24 hours or so they do just fine. Adult lizards, snakes, crocodilians, turtles, and tortoises of any species spend 24 hours to days hiding out of sight regualrly, thats part of being a healthy reptile. Even hatchlings do that. Im not sure what laws or from where you refer to but they have to apply to a situation. On a daily basis my reptiles need little to no attention to them or their cages. The majority of my care with monitors involves cleaning water dishes with my albigs, spot cleaning crap 1-2 times a week, and then feedng them anywhere from 1-3 times a week if they need it, with 2 of them 1-2 times in 2 weeks also happens. My ackies serve themselves from insects that get placed in their cage once a week if they need more. My 1 beardie is the only daily fed (if needed), but thats greens as insects live in the cage regularly.
Of course leaving our cat alone for 5-8 hours or so is normal but Id never consider 24 hours or more alone without someone checking on him.
One must use common sense and good judgement, of course when they are responsible for another life, this is also why I do not suggest minors keeping reptiles, especially monitors.

The law does not distinguish between a tortoise and a dog. If an animal is percieved as abondonded, as in you left it unattended for greater than 24 hours you will be prosecuted the same as if you let rover without food and water. Obviously reptiles need less attention than a dog, they officer won't see it your way. I actually was also cited for no water with a Uromastyx. Even though I brought 10 books on keeping them the judge did not care. If you love keeping animals don't risk it, because one of the outcomes can be that they take away your right to have pets all together.

You must live in a major city, New York, etc. This is another why the HSUS doesnt want people to keep reptiles, because they dont understand them or their needs.
Name one person who keeps a water dish in a uro cage? Anyways, many locations this lack of understanding and ignorance is the problem with laws when it comes to reptiles.
You still havent answered what city? Or what state? These 2 alone can also provide the answer to your problems with the authorities.

I guarantee that almost all if not all counties in this country have animal cruelty and abandonment laws. They will not care if it is a desert tortoise or a cat. You can not leave them to TAKE CARE of themselves. Fish would probably be the only animal you could get away with it. But my guess is they may even go after you for that if they wanted to. Find someone to check on them every day. Do risk it.

Either way it is up to the individual to take the risk. The reptile will most likely be fine. That is if it isn't confisicated by the time you get back from vacation!!!!!!!!!

I assume that is probly the case. if so then the officer has to check it out and thats where your problem came in to play.

I do much of what was posted above, with one difference I have someone stop by to check on the animals. I also tell my nieghbors that I am leaving but someone is stopping by to check on things for me. I then leave them the number of the person checking on my animals.

The above has worked for me. Sorry to hear of your troubles.
Oh yeah and btw I have a shallow water dish in with my uro's.

I find this topic to be both interesting and absurd. You see I live in AZ too and have a different take on it. You seem to be talking about a personal experience but my first thought is that you watch too much tv. I mean that from what I see in the local media, one might think the local authorities are vigorously prosecuting animal abusers. I know that this is not the reality.

I live in Pinal county and the most popular form of entertainment is dog fighting. There is more cruelty involved with dog fighting then most decent people could imagine. While I might like to see all the locals locked up for this, it's just not gonna happen. The local authorities may 'tax' and harass good people unfairly I can't imagine many people caring about a lizard. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if most people in AZ think that if you see a reptile you kill it.

Personally I believe you made a neighbor very mad, and to get at you they called and complained multiple times on animal abuse/neglect. Of course you should know more than anyone whos toes you may have stepped on. I believe they found more than what you admit to if this happened to you. Of course it isnt too hard to find out what happened according to animal control, you know the other side of the story. I see and hear cases of one sided stories all of the time, but thats one part of my job. I know usually in cases such as this lots of pictures and lots of paperwork has to go along too court as they need evidence or jobs are lost and heads roll.

SHvar adn JP, You acknowldge that leaving animals unattended for extended periods of time is illegal in responses by stating "Did someone turn you in?" "was a neighbor mad at you?". You both are concerned about being caught. Is murder OK if you are not caught? That is your guys logic.

Do as you may!!! I was only trying to be helpful. Leaving your monitor alone for days at a time is illegal, however you want to justify in your head. Doesn't matter if you are turned in or unintentionally found out. It is still illegal!!!!! You are extremely wrong about the amount of evidence they need. In fact the only evidence needed or cared about in court was the written word of the AC officer on the ticket. They didn't even need him present. I guess you will have to learn the hard way. Sorry for giving a little advice from experience. You remind me of why I hate these internet forums. Thanks.

Wow twist my words however you may want to. If you look hard enough at the clouds you'll start to see things too. But they are yet still clouds my friend.

You gave only your view of what happenings. You did not explain the most important parts, like how long were you gone, or such things as, were the water bowls dried up, etc, you know the conditions the officer saw and charged you for.

Please understand, you can be charged with neglect even if your there. Its a condition of the animals not how often your there.

You must understand, that you can leave them all you want, but they must be cared for. If an officer came to your place and found all the animals well cared for, I do not think they would care if you were there or not.

Also your idea of well cared for may not be the same as the officer/s or the judge. In this case, thats what courts are for. It doesn't mean they are right because they charged you.

You also left out, how the heck did they arrive at your house. Did someone turn you in, or did the neighbors smell dead animals, or heard animals trying to get out. I am not saying any of this happened, but somehow they ended up at your house. What is important is, how and why.

So without that type of information, none of us can offer anything of help.

You left out the most important fact, were they neglected?

What your doing is just like people coming here and saying, help me, my monitor is sick, I think its dying. You do understand, theres nothing anyone can do, if there is no information.

Again, in your case, you gave us your view of what you "think" happened, not the information needed to make up our own minds.

Lastly, officers break the law all the time and do illegal arrests commonly. Did you offend them, cause if you did, that would be a BIG mistake. FR also of tucson

it's obvious animal control has nothing better to do then drive around and check on every house known to have pets to see if anyone is home or not.

Oh and it doesn't matter if his animals are cared for or not. Cause its in the rule books they cannot be left alone for more then 24 hours. If you leave them then it is a crime and you will be charged. After all they have surveillance setup on all the pet owners homes. You know incase you leave for longer then you should.

So when it turns out to be the 25th hour they can raid your home. Then upon inspecting your animals even though they are well cared for, have food and water. They still charge you with abandonment and cruelty to animals. They use all of the evidence they collected of the healthy animals to convict you. You know to show how cruel you really are.

hahahahaha sometimes ya just gotta laugh, ya know what I mean?

Hmm, with your response, and your continued lack of info to paint a more detailed picture, the opinion of anyone reading this post is obvious that you had (as FR said)possibly dead, stinking, or sickly, dieing, and or truely neglected animals, thats what it seems at this point from what you say.
Now of course, if you elaborated a bit more and gave some details then maybe we would get a better idea. Id like to see pics of the animals that were taken to see for myself, as well pics of cages and conditions.
There are crooks on both ends of the law, the majority are on one side luckily (you know the criminal side), but I can say with experience that most people in law enforcement are there to make a difference, get paid some for their efforts, and go home to their families safely.
Your idea of "well cared for" or "set up right" or "set up ideal", is not the same as others. I dont know, I wasnt there to say for sure, I can only speculate from a paranoid incomplete story. Maybe you can enlighten us a bit with deatils.
You know petstores and other places with lots of animals, some really bad ones with lots of dead, sickly, dehydrated, dieing, animals, and horrid conditions usually go for soo long before an animal control officer ever gets there, usually it takes many, many complaints of repeated abuse, and neglect over a long time before someone calls and complains and they respond. So with this in mind as reality, why were they called to your house? Private owners that have them show up usually have dead dogs, livestock, etc laying around for days rotting, etc before someone complains.
I still believe you stepped on a few toes, a few too many times. As said before neglect isnt you being gone for 24 hours or more, its about what lack of care causes, you could spend 24 hours a day right there with the animals, but if they are not cared for, they become neglected, check the law, its not about time, its about results.
Thank you I hope you get it sooner or later.

First. My details are irrelevant to the point I am making. My debate here has never been "IF" they have food water, proper environment, or "dead" for that matter. Obviously if your animals don't have food or water or are DEAD that you can be cited.

The debate is unattended animals while someone is on vacation. I was not looking for help in my situation (long in past). I am not looking for advice or confirmation, good or bad, of what happened to me. I was merely correcting your INCORRECT information. By that, I mean leaving the animal without a "care taker" (you or someone else) for more than 24 hours. The law is the law. Abandonment starts at 24 hours, I also checked several other state laws and they are very simliar to AZ.

It was stated several places above that if you go on vacation to just make sure the animals have water and food without a caretaker. WRONG!!!!!! What happens when the water bowl is spilled over by the monitor?? I guess no water for a week.

I was giving advice on my experience and the LAW. I did quite a bit of research on previous case law. The animal does not need to be dead or without food or water for it to constitute abandonment and therefore cruelty. You are right, it is purely up to the Officer, and they do not need a CSI level investigation to prosecute.

Do as you will. Just because you are not caught or as you have all stated above "turned in" does not mean you are not breaking the law and therefore subject to the penalties of breaking the law.

In a nut shell: If you go on vacation and you own animals "You MUST, by law, have someone check and care for them at least every 24 hours".

Insisting everyone else is wrong, this is why you didnt learn from that experience. Regardless, you may claim anything you want its a public forum.
You were asked if you p-off some neighbors, what conditions your animals were in, what conditions the cages were in, etc, not your opinions on the laws.
Neglect doesnt begin with 24 hours or every petstore that is open monday through Friday or Monday through Saturday would have their animals taken the first week they were open on Sunday. The law doesnt distinguish between dogs and tortoise, well then fish are no different, everyone who goes away for more than 24 hours with aquarium fish is wrong then, huh?
The reality is you are either hiding the real problems, or creating your own reality in your mind, noone else knows what they are talking about.
I sure would like a certain business in Florida that has had years experience in other places at animal abuse and neglect to get raided, from what I was told the guy keeps his animals he sells on the net in a rented storage building, he leaves them alone from what Im told for 2 weeks at a time.

Just to add my two cents -

In the jurisdiction of texas, (incase anyone was curious), any visit from animal control would be on a complaint by complaint basis. Meaning that officers actually do have several other things they could be doing other than wondering who we are to "babysit" to make sure proper pet care is provided.
Someone would have to have called and informed animal control of a condition before animal control would investigate. It is the officers perogitive to give a citation for court (as it is a case by case basis). Btw, the hostility in the 'details' makes me wonder if you have something your hiding in why animal control was called out in the first place. Was this a second offence? Was this a first offence? Do you know who called? And I also question about your references to dead animals.... did you have a problem with an animal dying? There just seems like there wasn't enough for that part of the reply to acurrately give enough details. I don't mean to bash, and appoligize if you do get offended, but I seriously doubt that the officer would not give a citation if it wasn't without reason.

Personally, I think anyone going on a vacation for longer than a weekend with reptiles should consider having someone stop by to check on the herps... I think it goes without saying that mammals should be either kenneled or have a reliable petsitter. You never know when there may be a power outage or even just to have a bit of security knowing that someone is going to check on your house - it makes for a better vacation to not have to wonder if everything at home is just as you left it.

- S.Peters ACO

1 Savannah Monitor
1 Red Tail Boa Constrictor
2 Dogs
2 Cats

Alot more that happened than they are admitting to.
Ive seen examples of animal control visiting businesses and a few houses, but this was a long process of many many complaints by multiple people over a period of time, usually the police or fish and boat commission arent far behind by that point.

Law enforcement, you cant, and dont do it for money alone, thats for sure...

Yep, I know I sure don't work for the money LoL!
But it does give a good sense of satisfaction when you can make a real difference in how pets are treated. And it's never a dull moment.

Thanks for everyones response. I fed all 9 of my babies real good and left plenty of water. the lights are always on timers. I'm off for the keys!

I travel frequently and I have lost animals when a heat spell came through and they got too hot.
I learned to stop feeding a couple days before I leave, turn the heat source off or waaaaay down, and supply plenty of fresh water. If you have the type of monitor that likes to soak, put an additional smaller container of fresh water in the cage for drinking.

NP
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.