A Strange question

[suz1000]

We have a Savannah Monitor. When we got him on July 26th 2013 he fit in the palm of my hand. Now he's about 8" (he is genuinely growing in leaps and bounds). He is healthy on a good diet, regular vits, feed him in a separate cage give him a bath once a week etc.

He's picked up a rather crazy habit. He's pooping on me when I pick him up to hold him. I'm not terribly bothered by it but it tells me maybe he is still really scared of me. Can you help me to understand this behavior and maybe give me some handling tips so he and I can overcome this. I don't mind the poop but it grosses out my wife and makes her pretty upset (for the record: its much better than the biting)

[murrindindi]

We have a Savannah Monitor. When we got him on July 26th 2013 he fit in the palm of my hand. Now he's about 8" (he is genuinely growing in leaps and bounds). He is healthy on a good diet, regular vits, feed him in a separate cage give him a bath once a week etc.

He's picked up a rather crazy habit. He's pooping on me when I pick him up to hold him. I'm not terribly bothered by it but it tells me maybe he is still really scared of me. Can you help me to understand this behavior and maybe give me some handling tips so he and I can overcome this. I don't mind the poop but it grosses out my wife and makes her pretty upset (for the record: its much better than the biting)


Hi, can you give some details of the conditions you keep the monitor in; enclosure size and type, temps (ambient and surface), lighting/heating, humidity range, type of substrate and depth?
Forced handling is extremely stressful to them, no doubt that`s one of the reasons the animal is defaecating on you. There`s absolutely no need to feed the monitor in a separate container (more forced handling).
You must allow the animal to fully acclimate to the enclosure, so for the time being just leave food, clean water, spot clean.

[suz1000]

I have him housed in a 4x2 cage insulated basking area stays around 115-120
Cool side stays between 75 and 82 humidity fluctuates some generally 60-80 cool side 30-40 hot side. I have 4" eco earth hot side and 6" on the cool side. He has a hide on both sides and a water soaking spot in between the two. He eats around 12-20 crickets and a fuzzy each day. (though that is only for the last two weeks) I've tried numerous times to give him different kinds of worms and hissing roaches but he won't touch them. He gets calcium 1 time a week usually lightly sprinkled on his mouse and a MULTI VIT once a month. I change his water and clean his excrement daily. Clean the Eco earth 1 time a week and replace it once a month. i take him out of the cage the same way every day for feeding I put the second cage in front of his for 5 minutes then I take him out place him in the cage feed him a fuzzy with tongs then place the crickets in the cage so he can eat his fill. Sometimes (though rarely) he eats on my work schedule but most of the time I make it a point to feed him circa 9pm every day. I try to handle him for 10 minutes every day (though some days wok makes that impossible).

[suz1000]

Surface at night stays between 70-75 degrees ambient 70

[suz1000]

I'll be building him a new cage in a few weeks.