Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello to all,

I am not active in this forum as I just recently purchased my first water monitor. Some of you may have seen it posted for sale here on KS about a month ago. I am going into the 3rd week with this monitor and he simply refuses to eat. I have been offering him everything I have read to try. The only thing he has eaten was just about 3 tablespoons of ground turkey over a week ago. I have been trying to stay away from too much turkey as I have read where it may not be the greatest thing for him. This monitor is in a huge cage with about 12-18" of substrate to dig in (he stays buried a lot) and a large soaking bin that he goes into several times a day. The substrate is kept damp but not saturated by any means. Temps are at 120f for basking and 80-85 on the cool side of the enclosure. In my opinion, he has had plenty of time to acclimate. We have let him be and given him time to get used to his new home. What else can I do? I am starting to get concerned. Thank you very much! David

We need more information. Is there a screen lid on the cage, if so, get rid of it, now. and yes, I mean now. hahahahahahahahaha

Also, some individuals have been tramatized and need special care. others have organ damange from severe dehydration.

The screen top is what causes that chronic dehydration, hmmmmmmm thats wrong, its heating air that raises out of the cage quickly taking available moisture with it. I coined this effect as the beef jerky effect or cage. It turns them into monitor jerky. They WANT/NEED humidity, not wetness.

Any monitor that soaks is a sign of servere dehydration. That includes water monitors. Its more difficult to tell with water monitors as they are WATER MONITORS. You only need to understand what that means. Water monitors are no different then other monitors with the exception that thy seek their living, prey, in the water or near it. They also use water as an escape mechanism.

They are NOT fish or salamanders. They require the ability to dry out.(and not dehydrate)

ALso try placing the prey by the hole. Let it tell you its story. Cheers

No, he is in a custom cage with a solid top. He finally ate a little ground turkey today and took a live hopper. Can someone give me some more ideas on what to offer?

Get rid of the turkey. Your so missing the point.

Varanids are not snakes. They do not stop feeding at the littlest mistake. You do not have to trick them. They pound food. If not, something is wrong with their set up, or them. Period. Being a picky feeder is the monitor telling you something is VERY WRONG.

Monitors feed daily, a lot. They eat alot. They will feed a few weeks after they have died(its funny but true) That is, high stress situations cause organ damage, such as liver and kidney. They can survive that for short periods(weeks to months), but if the damage is extreme, they perish and appear healthy while doing so.

Its so very common to read on this forum. My poor(name) ate yesterday, and was so happy and looks so healthy, but died today.

Healthy animals, do not die. Only sick ones do. So while it appeared healthy and feeding, the animals are terminal.

In your case, you have two options, take it to the vet and have it checked for organ damage(bloodwork) or try and support it with very good husdandry.

The point is, you do not have to trick monitors to feed, they feed well on anything(within reason), unless serverely compromised. ALways feed whole prey items and in my experience, rodents work best. BUt other prey items work well.

In most cases, if your monitor is near normal, the problem is heat. As in, not enough useable heat. This is important for newbies.

Well adjusted individuals will go and get the heat they need, compromised wild caught individuals, may not bask in the open and seek the heat they need while hidden. So provide a heat range both in basking form and in sheltered form. Cheers

While I do appreciate good solid information, you sure have a tone that probably has not earned you many friends FR.

I have "so" not missed the point. This monitor came to me and has had nothing but the best husbandry since arriving. The gentleman that I purchased the monitor from thought it best to at least get something into the monitor since he was refusing to eat most items. Acclimation? Who knows. Hidden issue? I will find out. I am fortunate to know several great herp vets in my area.

Why would I consider you a friend? or a potential friend? No offense, but your just another person with a problematic monitor. And there are lots of them.

I hope to help your montior. But if you are interested in friends and imagine, then I do wish you luck.

You should really understand, you are the one who said the monitor is not feeding right. That means, its not being or has not been kept right, PERIOD. They do not get like that for no reason. If you want to solve the problem, lets do it. If your thinking you have the best care, hmmmmmmmmm why are you here asking the question. The best care would have already fixed the problem.

I am sure your a very caring person. But its you with the problem monitor. This is only my opinion, but you should be worrying about the animal and not your ego. Have a great day and good luck

Oh how I love the internet and this hobby.

Fortunately, the monitor ate another mouse today. Keeping my fingers crossed that his lack of appetite was merely the acclimation process. Maybe we can all learn a little more here.

Hi koiboydavid,
first, I need to say that the probable reason the monitor wasn`t eating "normally" was mainly stress (and possibly the conditions as has been mentioned, which is so very often the another cause).
I get the impression you think they only need a few days to acclimate, based on you stating you`d had the animal two weeks and it was still not calm (or words to that effect)!?
They can take many, many MONTHS to settle down, the first thing is to get used to the enclosure, and until they know that`s a place of "relative" safety, you are just another predator. You should have zero contact, only leaving food, changing the water etc.
When the monitor has acclimated to the tank you can start trying to offer food from tongs, that`s the best way to teach them you mean no harm (food`s something they cannot resist)!
Can you put a few photos up? Thanks!

Thank you very much! I had not idea it could take that long for a reptile to acclimate. I have owned just about every type of reptile you can think of over the years and never had something so picky. Had a Black Throat several years ago that would eat anything and everything from day one. This is my first water monitor. I will try to get some pics tomorrow.

I would still like to hear some food options that people offer. Thanks again!

Hi again, as far as diet, I use a rodent based, then include fish, either fresh or saltwater (they can catch them live, but I feed f/t of f/k), if the fish is too large, cut into slices along the length so each portion contains bones, intestines, also prawns/shrimp, etc.
You can also offer chicks, fertilised quail eggs (whole if raw) or cooked, though they lose a little nutritional value in cooking, they are still a decent meal (I sometimes scramble them).
My current (male) salvator has never been interested in insects of any kind, not for the want of trying, but it`s fine to offer them.

over the course of reading this thread a few thoughts occurred in me wee little mind... Firstly, if they're not fish why did the guy at the pet shop sell me this big thing of TetraMin? on a more serious note, is it possible that the heat of the of the cage is not penetrating the deep substrate sufficiently, thus creating col spots? What kind of alternative hide spots are available to the little critter? Are they located at various points along the thermocline of the cage? How are you determining the temps of the overall cage and basking spot? Whats the size of the hotspot and distance from the heat source? As for the length of acclimation...well, bear in mind the creature has been removed from the habitat it was designed for(by evolution, god, or Murrey down in R&D)and thrust into an alien ecology. Hell, a baby lizard has enough to be afraid of all ready("oh no...that was a dinner bell!!" "It's a COOKBOOK!!"then add to it a strange constraining structure patrolled by some giant hairless ape with a contact fetish..well...i'd dig in the leaves too.....

I in no way intended to have that happy face thing in my previous post. i thought i had hit the right parenthesis key and have no idea how that degenerate little abomination manifested itself in my response.....once again.. i am sorry...

guy