Sick Savannah Monitor???

[Jay]

Hi im very worried about chomper my little sav hes about 6 months old i have never seen him do this he was sleeping in his water and flat almost floating i thought forsure he was dead so i took him out he looked stuned ..very disoriantated set him on his rock and he just slowly went to his hide that is not like him he always goes for your fingers and what not
his cage is home made 8 x 6 x 4 humidity 50 / 60 8 inches of dirt mixed with sand he has to hides and lots of burros basking is 110 and ambient is 85
please any information will help i am pretty scared for his health

[infernalis]

Raise those temps up, and do it quickly.

Basking should be 125-130 and ambients nearer to 100.

They have remarkable healing power when they are nice and toasty.

[Jay]

i thought so ? i had 128 basking and 91 ambiants up until today i left out but he was soaking so i dropped them thinking he was hot what could it be and this isnt my only chomper i have and adult who i have raised since a htchling never seen enything like it

[infernalis]

what have you been feeding??

[Jay]

i mix it mosly incects ground chicken mice

[bighog85]

Make sure that insects are like 90% of his diet. Lethargy can be caused by an unhealthy gut content and improper diet. Mice are not good for them except maybe once a month or so. Crank the temps up as Wayne said and get the diet dialed in and he should be good to go. Also, you could try adding a mercury vapor bulb to one of his basking spots. Some people do not believe that uvb is necessary for monitors but I am not one of them. The way I see it is they live outside and receive it in the wild so why not in captivity. The argument against it is from people that believe in a mostly rodent diet and in that case they will receive vitamin d3 from the prey items liver and blood stream like snakes do. Being as they are insectivores though, they will not get that from roaches or anything like that so I believe they need a good basking bulb.

[Jay]

sounds good i have his diet down pat and a merc bulb im with you 100percent i my diet is detail all sorts of insects mice every other month chicken on fridays with roaches and and insects all week thats why i am sshocked at this behavior