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Sick Savannah Monitor

S

sellershotts84

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I have a few questions about my Savannah Monitor. First about a week ago my monitor had a runny nose and was sneezing. What can cause that. My next question is that when hes sleeping he only breaths about every 30 seconds and its a deep breath, is that normal? or do you think he has some kind of resp. issues. My last question is a friend told me to use a blacklight for night time to insure the cage temp was up. So I used the blacklight for 1 night and the next morning his eyes were closed and he was moving around still with his eyes closed. Today (a day later) he still only opens his eyes when i bring food out. He is not blind cause he will follow the food around through eyesight. Do you think its pema damage or will he get over it? I put some eye drops in his eyes but he still does not want to open his eyes and just hides and won't even open them if you try to pet him.
 
I think you need to get your pet to a vet asap -
1. What kind of enclosure do you have him in?
2. What are the temps (ambient and basking)?
3. What kind of substrate are you using?
4. How are you heating the enclosure?
 
1. he is in a 50 gallon
2. 120-130 basking, ambient is around 90
3. i use eco earth substrate
4. I have a under tank heating pad, and a basking light on hot spot

The main problem at the moment is that he just wont open his eyes, the only time i can get him to open his eyes is food and by picking him up and setting him on my lap, then hes fine with his eyes open.

There is no VET remotely close to where I am so that is not really an option. All was fine until i put the black light in there for a day.
 
How old/large is it?

If it has a runny nose and keeps sneezing it's likely it has a sinus or upper respiratory infection. Respiratory infections are one of the leading causes of reptile deaths so if you notice a lot of mucus in it's nostrils (bubbles) and mouth (take a peek) you will need to get it to a vet soon so it can be treated with antibiotics. Upper respiratory infections lead to lower respiratory infections and those lead to death. In the meantime you need to keep this guy extra warm and full of fluids. (Get a clean eyedropper and personally put some water down his throat making sure NOT to get any in his windpipe! (the hole under his tounge) Another thing you can do is to mix some reptile vitamins (I use Jurassi Vite) with the water. Make sure you give him a strong reptile basking lamp (I recommend Zoo Med's "Basking Spot Lamp" or Exo Terra's "Sun Glo Tight Beam" for a bulb) that will heat his basking site to around 95 degrees. I use 100watts for every 12inchs of between space. Mist the cage keeping the humidity to around 60-70% and keep the cage extra clean and dust free. If you do not notice improvement within a week or his condition declines at all take him to the vet as soon as you can.
 
He is about 14 inches long.

His nose has not ran for about 4 days now, and he has nothing coming out of it anymore, but he is drinking A LOT of water out of his bowl and eating healthy, i was thinking his heavy breathing while sleeping was kind of how they did it because my beardies do that sometimes as well.
 
i bought a UVA Basking light but it took the temps to 150+ as per a infer red temp tester. so i backed off and just use 2x 60 watt lightbulbs and under heat pad, which brought it down to around 120
 
for the moment yes, because like i said the infer red tester said 150 so i took that basking bulb out. That was of today though.
 
You need to have UVA basking lamps for him to bask under.
I don't even think you need the heating pad.
Put the basking lamps on one side of the cage with his basking platform and put his cave on the other side so he has a heat gradient. Keep some moist moss (or paper towel) in his cave.
If you need to increase the temp at night because you have the AC on or whatever reason, use a 50watt infra red bulb again on his hot or middle side of the cage. Don't put it over his cave as that's his cooldown chillout place.

If you need to run some tests on what wattage bulb you need to get the right temp, start with a 75watt and work your way up. Tell the person at the pet store what you are doing and that you may have to come back to exchange the bulb for a stronger one.
 
its about 4 ft long 2 feet wide 2 feet deep.

whats the reason for UVA basking bulb when I have a 10 UVB full spectrum strip light for him?
 
sellershotts84 said:
its about 4 ft long 2 feet wide 2 feet deep.

whats the reason for UVA basking bulb when I have a 10 UVB full spectrum strip light for him?
Click to expand...

They put out different light spectrum waves.

You need to combine them in your enclosure for a proper sunlight simulation.
 
thats interesting cause i have raised tons of beardies and i only use uvb strip lights and infer red heat bulbs and thats it and i have never had any issues.
 
full spectrum bulbs ARE indeed full spectrum, but vary in different intensities throughout the spectrum. Take these 3 bulbs for example, they all put out all the colors of the spectrum, but vary in intensities of each color.

compact_bulbs_20.jpg

compact_bulbs_100.jpg

compact_bulbs_50.jpg


Check out this lighting guide from Exo Terra, it will answer some of your questions on different light spectrum waves.

http://www.hagen.com/pdf/reptiles/Exo_Terra_Lighting_Guide_EN.pdf
 
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