Savannah Monitor - Deficiency?

Hello. I have two Savannah Monitors. Not sure on the gender's but assuming they must be opposite, because they are kept in the same terrarium with no social problems. (I've heard two males will fight while two females will avoid each other) They are both roughly 20" in length. The smaller of the two hasn't been as active as of late. It sleeps alot and is not nearly active as it once was. Also when it walks, it shows signs of a possible balance problem. It leans to one side and occasionally will lose its balance and fall over. When I try to feed it an adult mouse, it shows no signs of being interested in it anymore. All of its limbs seem to be fine, no broken bones. I was wondering if this is a deficiency or something else. The larger of the two seems to have no problems and is quite active, if not overly active. Thanks for your time.

Mark

Monitors can get along regardless of sex. That has more to do with individuals than sex dofferences. Also you say one is active and the other not so active. That is indicitive of stress. I do not know the conditions you keep them in. They should have a basking spot of at least 135 degrees
warm end in the upper eighties, cool end in the high sixties. Lots of dark tight hides in all parts of the cage. You probably have an insufficiently sized cage for them. Remove the less active one to its own cage if the alterations I recommend dont do the job. Also the cage needs to conserve humidity and moisture. Provide more info I can provide more solutions.

Digby Rigby balboa28279@mypacks.net

The savannah's are housed in a terrarium somewhere along the lines of 90 gal. They have a warm end and a cool end, although the terrarium does not retain humidity very well. Reason being, the top of the tank is mostly screen. I'll try putting some towels over the top. They also don't currently have many hiding places. (two half logs) Along with the basking lamp I have an undertank coil heater running the length of the tank. I suspect this may be part of the problem. I have been away from my monitors for two months and my friend has been feeding them. Somehow the undertank coil got unplugged (probably the friend) and being that it is winter in iowa, it gets fairly cold at night. So I now have that plugged back in and just to be on the safe side I started dusting the food with calcium and vitamin D. Thanks for your input.

What are you feeding them? Monitors should be fed whole foods only. At 20 inches they should be able to eat small mice. With proper diet and lighting and heat supplementation becomes unnecessary. It has been a long time since I keot fish so size based on gallons is lost to me Feet and inches hower I understand Some good whole foods are mice or rat pinks, fertilized eggs, baby button quail, various cockroaches, nightcrawlers, whole fish such as mollies, platties and swordtails NOT GOLDFISH, silkworms and hornworms not fed tobacco or tomato plants. Some good UV lighting and proper thermal gradients as well as increased humidity, NOT misting remeber humidity is moisture in the air not wetness, more hides in all areas so the monitors dont have to choose between security and health. Even after this you may still ee to seperate them as one being active and the other hiding and not eating as much are classic symptoms of stress.

Digby Rigby is profanity on Kingsnake.com clearly I must be doing something right!

Digby Rigby balboa28279@mypacks.net

Not sure of the dimensions of the tank but I will find out for you when I can. All I know off the top of my head is it is at least 5 feet long. Best guess would be approx. 5' long by 2' wide by 3' in height, I could be wrong though. Either way, it seems to be good space for them currently, as they can comfortably move from one end of the tank to the other and easily turn around. They also have a large water dish to lay in, but that is a the cooler end of the tank. Should this be moved to the warmer end to encourage more humidity? Also they have been eating adult mice for quite some time now. Sometimes live and sometimes frozen (thawed of course). I throw in the occasional crickets and super worms from time to time. Also I was just curious as to why you said goldfish should not be fed. Thanks again.

Five by two by three would be around two hundred gallons, depending on the internal measurements...

A standard ninety gallon glass fishtank is four feet long, eighteen inches wide and then 20-24 inches tall, depending on the molding used and the manufacturer (since fish tank sizes are only "close" to the actual volume).

Originally Posted by Seamus Haley

20-24 inches tall

That should be... somewhere between twenty and twenty four inches, which may even be a little conservative, some of the molding used on certain brands may push that as high as twenty six, although the external measurements doesn't automatically turn into internal volume... basically the same amount of worthwhile space as a seventy five gallon fishtank, just a few inches taller.

Moving the water bowl to the heated side is better. No one likes a cold bath and it will increase humidity. You must also close off most of the top to help retain humidity. Also you need a substrate they can use to dig and burrow. They must also recognize the substrate as something they can use. If they are not digging and burrowing then the substrate isnt sufficient for them. Monitors housed sufficiently are active animals and need room to move. Tey also need to be able to move completely into either the cool or warm ends of the cage. Enclosures should be at least 2.5 x 1.5 total length of the animals in them. There should also be multiple hides throughout the enclosure so they have options on where they want to be and not have to compete with each other for favorite spots. look at the enclosure like a bucket and heat and humidity like water. You want the bucket to hold water. Now then since heat and humidity rise to hold it in think of the cage as an upside down bucket. You cant hold moisture in a bucket with a screen bottom
In my enclosures I generally use a vent lower down on the warm side and higher up on the cool side this helps control humidity as hot air rises. So the heat has to travel over to the cool side to escape. As I said in an earlier post based on what you said the one animal is exhibiting signs of stress. That means the cage is not sufficiently large for them or you need to seperate them. Now you have these conditions that need to be fixed I give you examples of good food to use and yet you ask why goldfish are not good. Concentrate on what is good or useful not why something isnt. Make the changes I have outlined. You need to concentrate on what works and fixing the problems. As for me I find it a waste of time to ask why things are not appropriate I just care about what is appropriate or if not how I can make it so.

Good day and Vootie to you

Digby Rigby balboa28279@mypacks.net

Originally Posted by Digby Rigby

Now you have these conditions that need to be fixed I give you examples of good food to use and yet you ask why goldfish are not good. Concentrate on what is good or useful not why something isnt. Make the changes I have outlined. You need to concentrate on what works and fixing the problems. As for me I find it a waste of time to ask why things are not appropriate I just care about what is appropriate or if not how I can make it so.

Thyamine levels and a high number of parasites. There's a lot of value in understanding why something is wrong or doesn't work- helps avoid similar pitfalls and allows someone to gain a more complete understanding of the species in question. If YOU didn't know the answer and were merely parroting back something you had heard from another source, as I think is likely, and don't have a legitimate understanding of the subject you probably shouldn't be handing out advice.

Incidentally... the short answer would be to immediately seperate the two animals, double check the conditions of both enclosures and to have a fecal done. Seperate them since stress and dominant behavior from the larger one can lead to long term problems even if there's no overt agression. Double check the environments to make sure it's not a small husbandry slip that's manifesting in one animal first. Fecal testing because the majority of savs are wild caught and parasite loads are a fairly common problem; some take longer to manifest than others and some parasites can remain dormant or at least have a minimal impact for extended periods of time until something triggers population growth.

For husbandry details... I'd grab "The Savannah Monitor Lizard: The Truth About Varanus Exanthematicus " by Bennett and Thakooroyal and I'd immediately throw out everything that was said by Digby there. Anyone who tells you not to question the reasons for something they have told you simply isn't worth listening to.

I do not regurgitate information but speak from my own experience and those of others I know. My reasoning for not getting into why goldfish are bad is because they need to understand what works or to fix existing problems. I have been kept by green tree monitors for many years now. Also I am not on company time when I am here so I would rather spend time on what does or can work not on what doesnt work.

Digby Rigby balboa28279@mypacks.net