sav's water

[Jenn_06]

what do you sav owners have for you savs water bowl? i have a 29qt tub but its a pain in the butt changing it out 2 to 3 times a day because he like to poop in the water, i was thinking about just giving him a normal dog bowl.what do you all think?

[Nafun]

He needs to be able to soak. Big lizards are a pain in the *** when it comes to water. I just bought a wet dry vac for my tegu and water dragon and refill them with a hose.

[Jay]

its a pain but they need it and trust me its better if they are going to the bathroom in there water haha thats a mess

[infernalis]

Mine craps in his water as well.

I just change it when it gets gross. he tends to track a lot of dirt into his water too.

[Jay]

yep...thats just a minor responsibility you assume when purchasing a monitor chompers water it a kitty litter i change it *** needed wich is daily ..i use it as a bonding time

[mo9e64]

it's pretty much optional-if you find it too much work,a dog dish is fine.The problem with using a large basin-is that it's function shouldn't exist to cover the bigger problem of too dry a cage environment.If the monitor is spending too much time in the water you have husbandry issues.If the monitor is dependent on the soaking to excrete and shed properly your cage is too dry.it's pretty much up to you-back you have to cover all bases of proper monitor husbandry.

[Jay]

not trying to be rude or anything but where did you get this information

[mo9e64]

what i'm saying is you can't have a large water basin-it can be good exercise.What i'm saying is that using large water basins can cover up poor husbandry,for example a cage with an overall RH of 35%-putting a large water basin doesn't compensate.Sav's can get alternate methods of exercise.If you have to soak your monitor so it will excrete or to shed properly, that's not healthy.that information is found on Varanus.net and other sources.A beginner might not know what an acceptable amount of time is to soak.

[Jay]

ok but you can have your opinion but what i am saying they do like to soak a bit not alot but i have seen mine do it from time to time and i assure you there is no husbandry issues as for exercise he is free to roam at my discretion and his enclosure is 6 feet plus all i am trying to say is you are saying it is optional , i am trying to say these are not beginner lizards there should be no options especially when it come to there water supply

[Jenn_06]

thank you everyone ill keep the tub in his cage,im not trying to cover up poor husbandry i put in a tub because everyone who has sav's said its a good idea to do so and he does not soak he will go in the water take a drink and poop than get out and thats about 3 times a day lol.but again thank you all

[mo9e64]

what you are doing works for you and your monitor,a dog dish full of clean water is a water source.Sav's are not beginner monitors,but they are purchased by beginners.Over 90% freshly imported Sav's will be dead after a year.

[Jay]

i hate that i stopped one being sold to a 9 year old i was at the pet shop picking up thermometers and i was in the reptile section and corner of my eye i seen this liitle boy holding this baby save the employee was telling this kids mom that he will be fine in a 20 g his whole life and he will maybe get only a foot long . i was so pissed i had my cell phone on me and i had some pics of chomper i showed his mother i said this is him at 5 months old she was shocked asked for the manager it was a success the boy got a free anole

[Jay]

this is the pic but he was pushing 12 inches for sure i cant stand some shops

[Jenn_06]

thats sad pet stores have to lie to sell things, that mom does not want to see a pic of my big guy i think he is pushing 3 ft right now.

[Jay]

lol i was shocked lol what his name ?

[Jenn_06]

Jojo hubby got him for me last year,not a nice sav but im ok with that he fits in with my mean boas lol

[Jay]

oh well its his personality what do you feed him..and do you have any pics

[Will0W783]

My sav is still young, so I have an extra large dog bowl for right now. The only time he seems to go into his bowl is to **** in it though. Ugh, that is the worst smell in the world! I have a bunch of hides and a plastic rodent tube maze in his cage, and he loves exploring them.

[Jay]

lol chomper would try and eat that lol he chomps everything new sometimes his food bowl lol

[Freebody]

my sav soaks in his water bowl all the time, and his cage is perfect, he likes to sleep in the water with his head resting on the edge, ill snap a pic off for yall to see, hes so cute lol I would keep a water container for sure big enouph for him to chill in, some people use a container with a drain at the bottom you can drain it easy, or a shop vac is a great idea, i never thought of that.

[Nafun]

The Pet Supplies Plus put up notices on their herps listing ages, sizes, diets, etc. They put the absolute minimum size on everything, and listed life expectancies that made me choke. Savs were 1.5' long, and lifespan 4 years.

[Jenn_06]

oh well its his personality what do you feed him..and do you have any pics
i feed him lots of dubia, mealworms, earthworms, and 1-2 times a month rat and deer meat.
when i 1st got him(cute little thing)
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o284/joejenn06/roxy/IMG_0210.jpg

and 4 or 5 months ago, need new pics but he is always covered in dirt.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o284/joejenn06/roxy/IMG_0815.jpg

[infernalis]

One of the things not getting brought up here, a bigger water dish has more surface area, therefore a higher rate of evaporation thus humidifying the inside of the enclosure.

[infernalis]

My sav is still young, so I have an extra large dog bowl for right now. The only time he seems to go into his bowl is to **** in it though. Ugh, that is the worst smell in the world! I have a bunch of hides and a plastic rodent tube maze in his cage, and he loves exploring them.

I had Chomper outside showing him to some people, he started squirming around, I thought he was just being grumpy, so I kept holding on and as it turned out, he was asking me to sit him down for a reason.

As I'm standing there talking, he lifted his tail and blasted that quart and a half of indescribable substance right down the front of me, soaking my clothes in it.

It was hot out and I was 700+ feet from the house.

How I made it back and got showered and changed without throwing up is beyond me.

[marvelfreak]

11227 11226 11227

[Freebody]

LOL ya my nile did that one day in my living room just missing the couch, my mother had opened up the back door and didnt tell me, the nile seeing his break at freedom jumped off my lap and tried to run across the hardwood floor with all his efford hes wasnt really moving to fast , well as i picked him up fast, he bit me and took a dive out of my arms, i grabed him in mid air before he hit the ground, and that made him so mad/scared<? he let one rip right at me lol i swear he was probaby looking me in the eye when he did it, lol take that..... it was the worst smell you could imagine, and from chest height dropping on hardwood, at plattered all over the living room and just missed the couch with the whole lot, got some on the arm rest, but i turned him just in time lol it spread out to like a 4-5 foot patch of goodness, not near as bad as what happend to you but still pretty funny.

[Reptile_Reptile]

if pet stores didn't lie it would raise credibility on reptile perspective. I'm pretty sure its their fault we are judged so harshly. i don't even get it, why would the creature being in a single tank its whole life or using the wrong bedding be what people would want to hear. if you are knowledgeable and tell the truth so that the reptile doesn't suffer or die or get sick wouldn't the customer be happier end result and give better business not to mention raising reputation and overall view on our community as a whole.

[Nafun]

It's pretty simple reptile+reptile. Pet stores are in the business of making money.

Their goal is to sell you an animal, and as many accessories for that animal as they can. If you can't afford all the animal needs, all the animal needs will miraculously become however much you can afford. Sure, the animal will die, but then you'll just be back to buy a different animal in 6 months. Keeping the animal alive is only in their best interest until you walk out the door with it.

For example: You can walk into most pet stores and purchase a cute little green Iguana. Now, the set up to house a green iguana for just one or years is going to cost about $200. However, if you can't afford that, they'll send you out with your $20 lizard, a $10 critter keeper, and a $10 heat rock. The animal will be dead before long, but that doesn't matter, they made a sale.

Imagine if you went into an electronics store to buy a big screen tv. The sales associate is going to want to sell you the tv, some hdmi cables, a surround sound system, a big comfy chair, a wall mount, a dvr, a blu-ray player, and probably some of those useless bloody electronics screen wipes. They will insist that you need all of those things to truly enjoy the experience, but if you refuse they aren't going to refuse to sell you the tv.

Pet stores work under the same principle.

The root of the problem is that a proper enclosure, lighting, heating, substrate, adequate humidity, and proper diet aren't optional extras, they're required necessities.

However, I think the problem comes right back to the consumer. Let's take this example.

Say you're buying the aforementioned big screen tv. What most people don't know is that the speakers in virtually all big screen tvs are absolutely terrible. An honest sales person would tell you that, and suggest you get at least a cheap surround sound system, because you won't enjoy your purchase without one. A lot of consumers are jaded and will assume that he's just trying to make a sale, even when he's being sincere. If he insisted that you buy a surround sound system with your hdtv, or you couldn't buy it, you'd walk out. You'd go to another store which would try to sell you everything, but when you refused, let you walk out with the TV. You'd get home, set up your tv, bitch about the sound sucking, and go back the next day to get a surround sound system.

Now imagine this situation with a pet store. If a pet store was honest that the $20 lizard was going to need a 40 gallon beeder *minimum* for its first two years, moving up to an enclosure the size of a large closet as it reaches maturity, if it said you needed under tank heater, the basking light, the uv light, the calcium supplements, etc and if it refused to sell you the lizard unless you purchased all of these because *the lizard would die a very early painful death without them*, most consumers would stomp out and go to a different pet store where the sales person would assure them that iguanas only get 10 inches long, live 5 years, eat crickets, and can live in a 10 gallon aquarium their whole lives, cause that's all you can afford.

[mo9e64]

it's funny more people will take more effort researching a tv,than a live animal.To expect a chain/or chain store employee to have the animals best interest at heart is naive-there are many good stores and conscientious employees out there you just have to find them.With the internet you can even research the stores-good ones will have positive feedback.

[siz]

My 3'+ iguana crapped on my shoulder once...she was sitting on my head seconds before, so I was actually a little grateful... ;) hahaha

I use a large sterillite tub for my sav right now, he craps in there, tracks a tonne of mud in, and crickets always fall into it. I see him splashing around in there sometimes though, and it raises the humidity so I don't have to mist as often, and of course he drinks from it. I don't really mind changing it every day but it sucks when you spill it. :\ A wet/dry vac is a great idea.