Baby savannah help...Please

[boa2]

Im new here, so sorry if tis has been posted before...

I had just gotten my lil baby sav monitor the other day.
The tank was all set up, temp was all good & all was secure.

I came home that night & I couldnt find him/her anywhere.
When I looked in the water boul I seen it laying under the pice of slate I put in there to climb on. It looked like it was dead, but when I went to pick it up it started to swim around. So I took it out & put it on dryland to see if it was ok. . .It was licking the air but its eyes are closed. now all it does is sleep.
It kind of looked like it was sleeping in the water,Is this normal. by the way the water boul is on the cool side of the enclosure.
Im worried....Is it ok, or is this just stress from the move?

Please help...Thanks.

 

[tpalopoli]

dead sav walkin...

K bud the bad news is from your description your little sav is going to die if he hasn’t already. The good news is this is not necessarily all your fault. Thousands of baby savs are imported in terrible conditions and few survive. Some make it for a while but are destined for a slow lingering death. That is just how it goes.

BUT check your husbandry. Make sure you have a good 130+ surface temp basking area for him with a large temp gradient within his enclosure (down to 75 ambient on the cool side). A sav soaking is a sure sign of severe dehydration, probably a condition you got him in (common reason for death in imports). I am guessing you have him in an aquarium with a screen top and a clamp light on top. This creates a cycle of heat rising out of his enclosure carrying ALL moisture with it, or as this typical ‘pet store set-up’ is often referred; you have created a “beef jerky machine.” Your sav is now the jerky. Combine that with his already damaged condition from the importation process and you will or have killed him.

The screen top should be covered, use some cardboard with a circle cut out for the basking light. Also, remember that generally it is HEAT that kills, not cold. Cold at a reasonable level will slow a reptile down and over time prevent proper digestion and absorption of required vitamins and minerals, but heat will kill fast, especially combined with dehydration.

Good luck on your next sav!

Tom

 

[tpalopoli]

blah almost forgot...use retes' stacks or something similar and provide a deep enough substrate (DIRT) for him to dig / burrow down into it to conserve water and attain the proper temp gradients.

Tom

 

[boa2]

So what your saying, is that there is no cure for this little guy...
There is no way that im giving up on him, Ive nursed some sick ass snakes back to health. I refuse to let this one die.

You were right, I do have it in a screen top"for now". BUT! I have the top sealed off with a pice of plexi.
I started misting its enclosure to bring up the Humidity. It was at 50(moderate), It is now at 70.

I have seen him eating & drinking. So he still has the will to live.
I thank you for your response. If there is anything else, I can do to help this baby monitor survive please let me know....Im not an impulse buyer or some unresponsible ouner eather,Im just some one who shares the same love that all Herp ouners do.

Thanks again!!!

 

[tpalopoli]

it's possible...

...for him to survive. The fact he is still alive now is testament to his strong will and constitution. Most of his cousins he was packed into crates with for days and days are long dead by now. His best chance is for you to do what you are doing, it's cool that you care. Do check his basking temps, maybe get it up to 150+ surface temp. Think of a rock in the hot sun...it should feel that warm (hot) when you put your hand on it. Just make sure that doesnt translate into poor ambient temp ranges within the enclosure (~72-85 or so throughout, remember deep substrate).

Look into getting an ackie if your buddy here dies. They are pretty much 100% cb (importation is illegal) and do not get nearly so large. Well most savs never reach their potential, most that survive to adulthood are obese toads slowly dying due to poor husbandry (diet, substrate, enclosure size, temp ranges, basking temps, etc). Consider it is not that hard either, but most want a lap dog that eats pepporoni while watching tv, not an awesome predator digging deeply into burrows (24" of dirt) and feeding aggressively on whole (expensive) foods. The slightly larger investment for an ackie ($300 vs $40-60) is well worth the potential and require a much smaller final enclosure. Go to proexotics.com to learn the basics on monitor husbandry, cool folks there. Personally I keep larger monitors but I also am older with an established career / house etc and the resources to devote an entire room to their enclosure and subsequent massive food bill.

Good luck -

Tom

 

[boa2]

When I had the hot side of the enclosure in the high 90's with its basking perch closer to the light @ the top, for a hotter basking temp & the cooler side was in the lower 80's. He seemed to be really slugish.

So then I dropped the temp slightly, & started to mist the sides of the enclosure, to raise the humidity of the tank. He seemed to wake right up & search the enclosure.... eat crickets/drink/swim/explore/bask,then explore & eat some more.
All the signs that he was more content with the slightly lower temp than what we first had it..I.E. the "BEEF JERKY MAKER". but not dangerously low.

Thanks for all the help...
If you would like I will keep you posted.

 

[leonardsKeeper]

Yes by all means keep us posted. Good to hear that he is coming back and moving about.

 

[SavannahIzCrazi]

blah almost forgot...use retes' stacks or something similar and provide a deep enough substrate (DIRT) for him to dig / burrow down into it to conserve water and attain the proper temp gradients.

Tom

Um no, i was told by the inventor of retes stacks, Frank Retes to not use stacks for sub-adult sav's

 

[tpalopoli]

yah Frank would know much better than anyone in the world.

However I would bet Frank would agree that providing your monitor choices is the key, whether they be from Retes Stacks or some other means. Consider I am simply regurgitating much of what I have learned from Frank. There is no hard and fast rules here (e.g. sub-adult sav = no retes stacks), it is about listening to your monitor and responding, adjusting, learning. If retes stacks fail by all means adjust, be creative. In fact stating "Frank said dont use them for..." is exactly the thing that irritates Frank hahah. Use what you your monitor tells you to use.

I often get stuck on stupid with my monitors, looking for established parameters and rules. The problem is monitors are smart and we are stupid, with respect to keeping monitors. We want rules, we want the play book (or *gasp* a care sheet). Well they (the monitors) ARE the play book and the game all rolled into one.

So, my advice is simply ideas I have tried and seemed effective for my monitors. My 4' blackthroat loves a larger than traditional version of retes stacks. He squeezes in all over at various levels. BUT, I have not bred monitors...I have not achieved basic life events for my monitors. I hope to someday, but I am learning.

Tom

 

[SavannahIzCrazi]

yeah I'm learning and i also am still learning about monitors of all species mainly blk n white tegus and savannahs, i thought of a larger than life retes stack, still might not sure if frank meant specifically a sub-adult or an ADULT lol he just said he doesn't suggest them, i wouldn't blame him for not liking the "frank said" stuff lol i get it too and i HAAATE it but them "quoting" some one is almost black mailing them into standing behind it and NOT changing it or any thing about it..any way..time to feed the monster she's eagerly waiting

Amber

 

[jacob12345]

Im new here, so sorry if tis has been posted before...

I had just gotten my lil baby sav monitor the other day.
The tank was all set up, temp was all good & all was secure.

I came home that night & I couldnt find him/her anywhere.
When I looked in the water boul I seen it laying under the pice of slate I put in there to climb on. It looked like it was dead, but when I went to pick it up it started to swim around. So I took it out & put it on dryland to see if it was ok. . .It was licking the air but its eyes are closed. now all it does is sleep.
It kind of looked like it was sleeping in the water,Is this normal. by the way the water boul is on the cool side of the enclosure.
Im worried....Is it ok, or is this just stress from the move?

Please help...Thanks.

Iwould get his temp up and see a lizard vet.Get a heating pad and put it under the tank set it on medium.I think he proably is cold and stuned.Put his water on the warm side too.