Respiratory Infection

[beanersmysav]

Hey as we talked about before the possibilities of having a respiratory infection with my sav it turns out its looking like he might now have one, I can't however get into the vets immediatly because of the lack of reptile vets in the area so I've turned up his cage temps day and night to about 95 at night, and injected his mice with a good amount of vitamin powder. I've read all over the net that this method should be able to help the monitor cure himself as he has not become lethargic and still eats like a pig and his breathing is not labored, although he is sneezing alot more and im sure i saw some liquid coming from his nostrils as well as him sounding like he has cotton mouth. If theres anything else I can do before I get him to the vet please let me know immediatly, thanks in advance. Should I quartine him from the rest of my reptiles? Theres no upper ventalation as the cage top is completely covered except for where the lights are but their are other lizards in the same room not same cage.

[V.hb]

95 ambient temp? or bask? if bask, you need to bring it up to 130 or so. Ambient should be 78-83 area. With a proper bask spot, and a good supply of clean water, your sav will clean up on its own, if it really is an RI.

[Shad0w]

130 bask????? that seems way too hot

If you suspect a RI, take it to a vet!

[V.hb]

have you kept varanids? savannahs require very hot basking spots. Monitors kept properly dont get RI's.

if you think it seems to hot, you may want to do more research before making a comment.

[ChunkyMunky]

Yea, savs definately need high basking temps. Like V.hb said, RI is usually cleared up by a simple increase of temps.

[treevaranus]

ha, you think 130's too hot..... I give my odatria- V. tristis, V. acanthurus, and V. glauerti basking sites of 160, which they readily use.. Yes, like Vhb said, I think that you should do more research and find what monitors really need, as opposed to relying on the TFH publications that you buy at Pet shops-and, unfortunately, many times, it is these books that "educate" the store's employees, and provide the information that they give to customers....

Monitors like it HOT!!!(basking at least). Because of their faster metabolic rate, when compared to all other reptiles, they need to mantain a higher internal body temperature than most others, just to make their systems efficient, as well as requiring a great amount of food intake as well. When people feed their monitors once or twice a week, and give them basking temperatures of only 95F, you get a lethargic, overweight, unhealthy, and sometimes sick animal.

Take a look at the majoirty of Savanah Monitor owners out there, who have been keeping their animals according to what those horrible books tell them to do.. I would have to say 95% of the savs kept out there are fat, overweight, lethargic, and inactive. It's a shame that petshops are giving out terrible advice and information...

So, about the URI, I would increase the basking temps up to the 130's/140's for him. The warmer the animal can get, the faster the metabolism, and the stronger the immune system is. When you have a cold, inactive animal, his immune system is "on vacation", and is susceptilbe to illness.

Heat plays an important thing with reptiles, especially monitors. I for example, do not use worming medications on my animals anymore. I simply provide my fresh imports with the proper humidity levels, and temperatures, and the animal pulls through just fine. The monitors know(instinctually) that basking at higher temps kills off endoparasites, which they do in the wild, however, because they are always exposed to parasites, it is just a continual cycle of getting them, and killing them off, etc...

Heat is everything!! (humidity's improtant too). Warm up his basking site, and he should recover(if it hasn't gotten too bad). I would suggest taking it to a vet if his condition does not improve or show any signs of improvement, after providing him with proper temps..

Cheers, take care, have a great day, best of luck to you.....

bob
The Odatriad (http://www.geocities.com/odatriad)

[Shad0w]

WOW ... :)

Hot temps!!!

but okay :D

[V.hb]

Shadow, consider what a monitor eats. They eat ALOT or should anyways. So they need ALOT of heat to digest the food.

If you give a 3 foot sav a few rats and a 90 degree bask the food will rot in its gut. The high temperatures aid in heating up the animal thus digest the food properly and metabolise the animal.

[beanersmysav]

sorry if you didnt notice i said 95 degree night time temps fellas, trust me i know how hot savannahs show be for the day time im using a 100 watt hallogen and a 150 watt reptile basking light its well over 130 in there more towards 140. I think it was just a cold because the eye swelling went down and he hasnt sneezed since ive upped the night time temps. Also as I wrote I've called the 3 vets in my area and they are ALL booked for months so I have to wait awhile to get him in although he is doing much better I'm sure of it, but I'm still going to bring him in for a check up. The night time temp was only about 80-85 depending on the night so I've since upped it over 10 degrees and im going to invest in an undertank pad for night time as well as the red light I use.

Also he is not and was never lethargic, nor did he ever ever ever refuse a meal crickets, mice, egg or otherwise. Like I said I think it was just a cold because of the fall his night time temps dropped and I wasnt realizing it untill recently that it was getting to the lower 80's in his tank as all summer it was in the 90's.

But again he is doing much better, havent heard as much as a sniffle out of him, no sneezing etc since the night temps have gone back up. Also he's still eating 2 adult mice every other day and an egg once a week. And he's far from overweight. I've compared him to other monitors his size as pet shows picture etc. and he seems to be a perfectly healthy looking monitor in terms of size and everything else. Also may have been a bit too much moisture in his cage as his water dish was leaking which I put a stop to by adding another so that could have been the issue as well.

Thanks for all of your concerns and I'm sorry I must have worded it to make you all believe his basking temps were only 90 degrees f. but I would never subject the monitor to such low basking temps. Thanks again

[beanersmysav]

Originally posted by beanersmysav
I've turned up his cage temps day and night to about 95 at night, see I did put to 95 at night I didn't list the day time temps which in my latest post added that they are almost 140 and to be exact it's 139 in there right now on his basking log, on his bottom log its 135 and under it its 131 exactly as i used a digital thermometor. the cold end is 95 middle is 125

[V.hb]

believe it or not, monitors still don't get RI's unless the nighttime temp is like low 60's... mine drop into the low to mid seventies for some and I have no problems at all. And now, also.. if your coldest spot is 95 degrees its way to hot for the savannah...

[Jeff_Favelle]

Savanna's need a cooler low temp than 95F. That's a sure way to kill a monitor.

[kap10cavy]

I must agree, my temps at this monment are 81 cool side, 93 hot side. 140 basking surface and humidity is at 62. I am sure it is even cooler in the burrows. My savs are doing great, as a matter of fact I believe Sassy is gravid. Baby has been chasing her around and mounting her ever chance he gets. I guess I must be doing something right.

Scott

[beanersmysav]

Not that I dont respect everyones oppinions but all of the vets I've talked to said while he is sick or suspected to be so that over the next week it should not drop to below mid to low 90's even on the cool side, they said if he wants cooler temps he will burrow and if I notice him constantly burrowing to then lower them temps, adding that monitors are very intelligent and know what to do to heat themselves up and cool themselves down. Also he is always in the warm end so I guess for the next 3-4 days he will continue to have t hose elevated temps and when I
m sure he's rid of the illness I will cool the temps back down to 125-130 basking 85 low end. But like I said he's looking 100x better, but like I said it may not have been the night time temps but the excessive moisture issue which I too fixed with new water dish and fresh dirt

[dave68]

The people that took the time to reply to your post are for the most part reputable keepers with years of experience keeping monitor lizards. Not to dis the vets, but an experienced keepers advice holds a lot more weight in my opinion. So anyways Beanersdude you shouldn't snub those people that can help you the most for free. All their advice sounds alot better for your sav than what you are currently putting it through!

Dave

[Jeff_Favelle]

Vets don't keep monitors (maybe some do) and are most certainly not up to speed on the latest monitor husbandry.

[V.hb]

varanids need to thermoregulate regardless of their health situation!!! not allowing them to do so will cause a world of other problems! they need to regulate their body temperature, you can do this easily by offering a gradient.. hot bask, with a hot end, and a cool end (80 degrees or so) you'll end up killing your monitor, theres no healthy gradient in your setup.

[beanersmysav]

Well i've moved the lights to the furthest most edge of the tank i had it more center over the basking log but this has dropped the temp in the low end to 83 is that cool enough and it was decently warm today anyways? i dont see any other way I could keep the high end as high as it should be without upping the low end. I've arranged it for the time being so that he can still bask however not as good looking but he doesnt care im sure as long as he can still bask. But the only other alternative is to lower his basking temps back down to the 120 range if I want the cool end any cooler. i should also invest in a new termometor this one seems to be slightly high anyways but ive made this changes so let me know if you think I should drop the basking temps a bit or possibly removing part of the top for more upper ventalation with allow more heat to escape on the cool side. also speaking of not "snubbing" you must forgive me for taking the vets advice, i mean honestly if you cant trust the vet for proper advice who can you trust? before i had a proper gradient in my oppinion just the vet told me to up it so id do like most normal people would do and listen to him. also if everyones so dead set on "bring you reptile to the vet for proper treatment" if you cant listen to them for proper instructions how can u trust them for proper care and treatment

[treevaranus]

what wattage bulb/s are you using? You can achieve the same temperature basking site, by using a weaker wattage, simply by raising up the basking platform closer to the light. By having a weaker basking light, chances are the ambients will be a bit cooler, providing a cooler "cool" end temp. Personally, i would shoot for a low end of 75F, as monitors will burrow down to where temps are cool, and in the 70's.... Reptiles need temps to 'relax' too... So, if possible, i'd recommend the lower wattage thing. With all of my odatria, I use either a 50 or 60 watt halogen bulb to heat the enclosure and basking site. Best of luck to you, I hope he makes a full recovery!! Cheers, have a great day...

bob

[beanersmysav]

i was using a 100 and a 150 but the 150 is very week as it is old and was only offering about 100 degree basking spot by itself and the 100 watt was only giving off the same at the very top so i put the two together to reach 130 basking spot but both bulbs are old and have been used for quite awhile, i will be getting paid tomorrow so Im going to get a new hood for my leos so while im there i will pick up all new bulbs for all of my reptiles, the only ones i change frequently are uvb bulbs as the heat bulbs tend to last a bit longer, thanks for all the info ill try the lower watt bulbs brand new and see how it works

[beanersmysav]

also i want to add he's got multiple spots to bask I've got one log he climbs on that is no further than 6 inches from the lights which is the one thats 130 the lower log is 120 and the ground is slight lower at about 112 now so he's got his choices of where he wants to be and also i was forgetting to mention i wasnt measuring the very far said as to where his water area is i guess i should have added that he has a LARGE swimming are which is much cooler than the rest of the tank i was only talking as far as dirt goes, ill have to get some pictures up so people will better understand my set up when i ask questions