My Escape Artist

This has been a very hard week. I made the mistake of letting my Black Throat have the run of my reptile/music room while I cleaned out his cage. After that he has done everything he could to beat every change I made in cage design to keep him in. I’ve tried weights on the cage top but he just through them off the cage and runs for it; I built some internal latches to keep the lid on he found how to turn them and open his cage top; I have two cargo straps on each lid he removed the vent covers and worked the lid off by sliding it back until he could get out; I’ve modified the straps and incorporated a large 2x4 and screwed the lid to it and used a bigger cargo strap to hold the lid in one piece we shall see. The problem is he has gotten out every day for the last 6 days and with my floor temps at a low 69 to 70 he gets cold and has not eaten in 6 days. As I warm him back up he just gets all worked up and gets out. Anyone else has this problem and now I just can’t wait for my Sumatra water monitor to get a few feet and he may even be worse. His new cage will be built soon a 10’x4’x4’but I just worried he will get sick if he keeps cooling off like this every day.

Just a thought and question. For a lot of Varanids, wanting to escape is an indicator that there is something wrong with it's environment which it feels the need to move away from.
For instance, the temperature gradient in your cage may not be wide enough for your lizard to thermo-regulate properly. It could be too much humidity for the species.
For my Black Throat, I have a basking area that hovers around 135f from mid morning to early evening. The cool side is around 80 during the day and drops to the low 70s-high 60s at night.

I don't think letting your BT roam made any difference with the exception of finding a spot that was more comfortable. Try lowering the ambient temperature of the cool end of the cage so as to make the temperature range wider. Having a bigger enclosure will help as well. I know that before getting my boy I read all that I could about how the basing area needs to be 130+. As it turns out, Kinabo only spends about 5 minutes on the hot spot and then moves to a cooler area and spends most of his time in an area that hovers around 90f. After he eats he basks for a few minutes and moves to the side where 120 is more normal. After an hour or so there, he moves again to a cooler spot.

Anyway, it may be something to think about.

Originally Posted by Dana C

Just a thought and question. For a lot of Varanids, wanting to escape is an indicator that there is something wrong with it's environment which it feels the need to move away from.
For instance, the temperature gradient in your cage may not be wide enough for your lizard to thermo-regulate properly. It could be too much humidity for the species.
For my Black Throat, I have a basking area that hovers around 135f from mid morning to early evening. The cool side is around 80 during the day and drops to the low 70s-high 60s at night.

I don't think letting your BT roam made any difference with the exception of finding a spot that was more comfortable. Try lowering the ambient temperature of the cool end of the cage so as to make the temperature range wider. Having a bigger enclosure will help as well. I know that before getting my boy I read all that I could about how the basing area needs to be 130+. As it turns out, Kinabo only spends about 5 minutes on the hot spot and then moves to a cooler area and spends most of his time in an area that hovers around 90f. After he eats he basks for a few minutes and moves to the side where 120 is more normal. After an hour or so there, he moves again to a cooler spot.

Anyway, it may be something to think about.

I was running 24/7 lights and have since changed to a night/day. the temp during the night have dropped to 79 - 80, day time about 84.5 hot spot 140 if he stays out of the center light its around 115 - 120. I keep my room at 79. I'll keep a watch on the temp and keep providing a cooler night and maybe he will fell better. 7 days he has not eaten realy bugs me. Will sniff out his bowel and leaves it without eating. He is normally eat whis fill all the timne.

Took the day off Friday and took him to the Vet. He checked him out and could find nothing wrong with him. I decided to get him Xrayed to see if he might be blocked up but that showed nothing also. He did everything he could to bite the Vet did not try to bite me but sure did go after the Vet. So we did a full parasite float and he found worms. I asked if that could cause him not to eat and he said no. we went around a few times on articles from various forms and breeders I contacted that did show a parasite infection will cause them not to eat. Well we treated him on Friday and he ate two mice and three large squid pieces the following day. I will say that it was the worms that put him off his feed. Doing better but I could do without the extra stress and I'm sure he could also.

First round of parasite meds and he started to eat. Not sure where he picked up this intestinal worm but he is not himself. I've been trying to figure out where he might have gotten it. I added Chicks to his diet a few months ago if thats how picked it up. I've been soaking him since he stopped in an attempt to keep him hydrated. Anyone else get an intestinal worm from chicks or some other food source that test positive recently? Just trying to narrow down how he came in contact with them. I have the New Water monitor quarantined with no direct contact i do not believe he was the vector. Anyone got an idea?

Originally Posted by Chris Wilkinson

First round of parasite meds and he started to eat. Not sure where he picked up this intestinal worm but he is not himself. I've been trying to figure out where he might have gotten it. I added Chicks to his diet a few months ago if thats how picked it up. I've been soaking him since he stopped in an attempt to keep him hydrated. Anyone else get an intestinal worm from chicks or some other food source that test positive recently? Just trying to narrow down how he came in contact with them. I have the New Water monitor quarantined with no direct contact i do not believe he was the vector. Anyone got an idea?

Does he get any live food or is it F/T? If the rodents and chicks are F/T then any parasite should be killed during freezing. Live or pre killed rodents/chicks can pass on parasites and if he ate any insects they tend to carry parasites too.

Originally Posted by Iguanagirl8662

Does he get any live food or is it F/T? If the rodents and chicks are F/T then any parasite should be killed during freezing. Live or pre killed rodents/chicks can pass on parasites and if he ate any insects they tend to carry parasites too.

No I do not feed live at all just F/T. he does eat some clams, squids and fish on occasion. I thought it might be that but I freeze everything when I repack into smaller portions with the thought it would kill off any parasites. I do feed him farmed snails and catapillars from a can and that could be it just not sure?