RESPIRATORY INFECTION

Would a monitor with a respiratory infection still eat?

Depends on how bad it is.

well my situation is i ordered a farm raised water monitor, and when it came it had excess saliva, mucus protruding from nostrils, and a slightly opened mouth. Was told to either send it back, free of charge, or give it a few days, and if it doesn't clear, then a refund will be provided. I have never dealt with this issue, so i opted for recuperation. A few days has gone by, and it still has the same symptoms. I am a zookeeper, and showed a legitimate staff member who said it looked like RI. Now, after to talking to the company, I was told to give it through the weekend, and if i still wanted to return it i could, but if they determined it was not RI, then i would have to pay for the shipping. I think shipping would cost about the same as have a culture done at the vet, am i right? Opinions?

Do you know what the surface temperature is of your basking spot? A healthy monitor should have a basking space as large as the monitor itself with a surface whose temperature is at least 130* F. (Surface temps read with an temperature gun.) A sick monitor should have a basking space with a temperature of 150*F. There aren't a whole lot of infections that can survive the temperatures that monitors thrive in (130-150* F).

o, good to know. I have his basking temp at 120, with an ambient of 85. Ill get it cranked up. That temp. sounds awfully high though, 150*?

The surface temperature of my savannah monitor's basking spot is at 140*. He once attempted to lay on top of a space heater I keep in the reptile room next to his cage... the surface temp was north of 200* (I didn't let him). There's a keeper I know of on another forum that gives his Ackies a basking spot of 150*... if those little guys can handle it, a water certainly can.