Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello all just recieved a 11" sav. as a birthday gift i'v hade him 10 days i been handling every day the last two times , his hemipenis has came out today as soon as picked him up he deficated and his hemipines was out so grabed a papertowel when i put him down i noticed a red stain on the towel, just curiase if this is a problem sorrey about speeling and wording

the last sav. i had was about 11years ago 3' when she passed from hart failur

Hi,
forced handling the monitor will cause a huge ammount of stress, it must be allowed to fully acclimate to the enclosure first (that can take weeks, even months), best just to leave food, clean water etc, for the time being.
It will make it easier to offer advise if you can give some details of how you keep the lizard; type and size of enclosure, heating/lighting, ambient (air) in the colest places, and surface temp at the basking site, humidity range and what you use to measure those (analogue or digital thermometer/hygrometer), and also diet.
Can you put a few photos up of the enclosure and animal (without handling)? Thanks!

That should read "coolest" places.

hello
thanks for the reply
at this time he's in 20gl aqu. fresh water every day, 125 watt incan.bulb for heat have'nt checked humd. but he is inside a heated and cooled building in prosses of building 4'x4'x8' inclosure

Hi,
I`m not sure how many inches or cm a 20gallon fish tank is, but I`m sure it`s much too small to get a proper heat gradient and a decent depth of substrate (the substrate would help with the humidity and keep the monitor hydrated).
You need to know only two temps; the lowest ambient (air) in the coolest parts @ approx 21 to 24c (72 to 75f), then the SURFACE temp at the basking site @ between approx 50 to 60c (120 to 140f), no other temp matters.
The humidity range should be between approx 50 to 70%, it may even be slightly lower around the basking area, but that`s fine. You need to understand this is a tropical species, not arid (dry like a desert).
I think you need to upgrade the enclosure asap if you want the animal to live a long, healthy life. The health problems start from day one, not at some point in the future (no disrespect).