Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So Ive had my water monitor for 6 months. Hes been super healthy, pretty friendly. He eats hoppers and sometimes I give him boiled eggs. I just moved him out of a 120 gallon aquarium/terrarium into a bigger enclosure that I custom built years ago. It has housed burmese pythons and cuban iguanas. He seems a bit stressed. Today was his first day, he has spent most of the time under water and hiding from me when I walk by. I fed him 4 hopper mice. He apparently ate them and then regurgitated them all. Do you think he ate too much too fast or maybe threw em up cause he is a lil stressed???

The enclosure is outside. out of the sun. It has been about 85 degrees all day(central Florida).

All comments welcome. thanks

Does he have a basking spot where he can get up to 120 degrees? Maybe place the cage in the sun, but give him a deep dirt substrate to burrow in when he wants to cool down. Don't be afraid of the sun, just make sure he can escape the heat.

How big is your cage and what is it made out of?
-----
Jason

8'x3'.......He can burrow in the mulch. He has water he swims in. There are two basking spots. The front two doors are plexiglass with a wood frame. The enclosure is fine. I think its just new and he is a little lost in it.

Probably, my sav acted like that when I moved him to a bigger cage.

But might I just put a suggestion out? If i was in florida, i would definitively build a large outdoor cage for when he gets to adult size. A cender block walled pit would be simple, and you can make it however large your space will allow, and if you don't want your monitor in a very large enclosure yet, you can just make a cage within the cage with some plywood, and you can tear it down whenever he's ready. Again, just a thought
-----
Jason

I'm not sure, but the gagging reflex and vomiting in humans is a very complex mechanisms. I think the gagging reflex is to prevent food from going down the windpipe to prevent humans from choking. A lot of reptiles do not have this mechanism and do not regurgitate unless something is not right, such as illnesses or maybe starving animals, that cannot hold down food.

Here is a good read for ya:
http://www.anapsid.org/vomiting.html

Nonetheless a high temp basking spot is critical in allowing them to reach ideal metabolic levels that allows them to process food adequately. Personally I ve never heard of a healthy properly maintained salvator throwing up except from eating too much... how old/big is the lizard? As its outside what temp does it drop to at night?

It's getting kindda warm. Maybe something else is bothering it. Maybe parasites. A lot of these wild caught ones come in with good body weight and then they get stressed out because of the strange, new, captive environment that they are not accustomed to, which allows the parasites to flourish and bloom out of control. [shrug]