New Sav Owner Needs Help!

[SavysMommy]

Im a new savannah monitor owner. I love my cute little baby, but I am afraid I may be doing things all wrong. I thought the pet store where I purchased her was legit and would be honest with me, but after alot of research, I am coming to realise they wernt. I need help! We were informed that we should keep her in a small terrarium at first. But we had already purchased a 50 gallon aquarium. We bought the coconut dirt from the pet store, as well as a heat lamp (with uva light), a basking tree, a rock pool, a bowl for water, and lots of crickets. We have had her for a week now, and she has almost totaly stopped eating. The temp of her 'basking spot' is about 148*, we have a native african plant in the terrarims as well, for shade. We mist the habitat atleast 5 times a day and change her water twice daily. We only give her bottled spring water and feed her crickets with tongs several times a day, as well as allowing a few free crickets in her terrarium for hunting. We even tried night crawlers. But she hasnt eaten since yesterday, and I am really worried! What am I doing wrong? I want Savy to be a happy healthy monitor. Any advice is welcomed! Thank you! :confused:

[SavysMommy]

Ive had my baby savannah monitor for about a week now. She (i think shes a she!) was ok when we brought her home. We did everything the pet store people told us to do. But after getting her home and doing some research on line, I have come to realise I was lied to. Shocking right? I had originaly planed on getting a green iguana, but was told Savannahs were much easier to care for. Yeah ok! I dont mind doing whatever it takes, I just want her healthy and happy. Heres the problem; shes not eating. Not since yesterday! Now shes only a baby, about 5-6 inches long. I have her in a 50 gallon aquarium with about 3 inches of coconut dirt as a base. I know now that that isnt enough, and plan on purchasing more tomorrow. But shes also got a such basking tree (driftwood purchased from pet store, also creats a nice hiding spot underneath) with a 50 watt basking bulb with uva light. we also have a red night time light we switch out before bed and change back in the morning. Shes got a bowl for water, a seperate rock pool for wading, and an african plant for shade and hiding. We tong feed here crickets several times a day, and have even tried pieces of live night crawlers. And i do allow several crickets free run of the terrarium for hunting. We frequently change her water (and we only use bottled spring water!) and mist her cage for humidity atleast 5 times a day. But since yesterday she seems to have fallen ill, She wont eat, drink, or bask. She just lays in the terrarium looking miserable. I read online that savs can become dehydrated easily, so i moistened her soil with spring water, misted heavily, and put her in her wading pool. She perked up a bit for a few minutes, but not enought to eat. Shes now laying prone again and looking miserable. I dont know what else to do. Can someone help me out? I am desperate! I dont wanna lose me little baby! Thank you!:confused:

[infernalis]

Welcome.

Sounds to me like your baby is not warm enough.

(Edit) I just saw your other post and moved it here.... (see my follow up post below this reply)

The fish tank has to go, Glass is horrible at maintaining heat, I also assume it has a screen top, another really bad thing, You cannot keep a balanced humidity in there with a screen cover, it allows too much air flow and all the moisture evaporates and rises straight up into the room.

Also before buying more coco hair, please either dig up some dirt or buy a bag of top soil instead, there is no substitute for good old fashioned dirt.

Also, soaking the cage too much can result in it's own problems from scale rot to respiratory issues. Not to mention it will promote mold growth, especially when you get the temperatures up.

A good place to start is to read over
Savannahmonitor.co (http://www.savannahmonitor.co/)

Once on the home page, each of the purple words is a link that will open example pictures. rather than clutter up the pages with too many photos, I used this method for a cleaner layout. Please lick on the purple words.

Get ready for a real personality change, once these lizards get nice and toasty they get really active and will behave like a monitor.. Meaning it may very well seem "hostile"

Don't worry, once it learns to trust you things will get a lot better, but that's a whole different subject in itself.

Right now our primary concern is getting it up to speed where it can thrive.

Ask questions, we don't mind answering them. ;)

[infernalis]

I just read the other post, Please move the basking lamp a few more inches away, it sounds like it may be just a little too warm.

What is the temperature on the cooler end of the tank?

The secret to getting things right is to allow for a range of temperatures so the lizard can chose. It's called thermo-regulation, and all reptiles do it.

A good balance for a Savannah Monitor is around 80 degrees in the coolest area above ground, with a basking spot around 130 degrees.

Also, Your Sav may be stressed out from too much attention, sounds odd but they are scared of us at first, and all the misting and fussing about is difficult for a normally reclusive animal to cope with.

The good thing is, you are asking for help.. With some work and determination, your Sav could be one of the lucky ones and have a nice life.

It really bothers me (and many others as well) that tens of thousands of these poor lizards wind up never seeing their first birthday because too many people don't ask for help.

[DiscoPat]

This sounds like about how I started. Mine is now healthy and very active because of Wayne's help and the rest of the forum. You got lucky, you definitely found the right place to go.

[BarelyBreathing]

Legit and honest, huh?

Savannah monitors need:
-A custom built 8x4x4 enclosure made from wood, 100% sealed (no screen, no open vents)
-2 feet of sandy soil. I use and recommend a 60/40 mixture of Eco Earth and children's washed play sand for monitors. Substrate should be moist at depth.
-60% ambient humidity measured several times daily with a DIGITAL hygrometer
-A basking spot of 130F or higher, measured several times daily with an infra red TEMPERATURE GUN
-A cool side of 75F measured several times daily with a DIGITAL thermometer with a PROBE
-Plenty of hides
-A water dish thtat is large enough to soak in
-A diet that mostly consists of invertibrates

[DiscoPat]

Everything BarelyBreathing stated is really good advice, but the enclosure should be minimum of 8x4x4 though, bigger is better and Eco Earth is expensive, Especially if you were getting 38 cubic feet of it. 65,500 cubic inches. You would need 300 packs of the larger one. about $1000.
Playsand will add a little to that but not too much, either way, Eco Earth may be good for any enclosure smaller than 3x2x2 but larger than that it just gets expensive.

Good old fashion dirt.. best substrate ever.

[BarelyBreathing]

Yes, you are very correct, DiscoPat. What I stated is purely minimal.

[DiscoPat]

A good way if you have a little less money/space you could do an 8x4x4 that could be made to where you can remove a wall eventually and increase the size.

[Gregg M]

You can easily house a savannah in a 6x3x3 for its entire life. If you can go bigger, thats great but it does not have to be 8x4x4.

18 inches of soil is plenty deep enough.

70% humidity is perfect. It does not need to be monitored if the cage is built properly. No need to get any type of hygrometer.

Basking spot should be 130 degrees F. Again, it does not need to be monitored all that often. DO NOT use high wattage bulbs to heat up the basking area. 30 to 50 watts is plenty and will heat up a cage perfectly. They key is low wattage close to the basking surface area.

Cool side should be at least 80 degrees. There is no need to drop their ambient any lower.

Their diet should consist of rodents and inverts. There is no reason not to feed them rodents. Do not let anyone get on you about how you should not feed monitors rodents. It is all BS. A diet of 50% rodent and 50% inverts will be a good start.

Do yourself a favor. Dig up your own dirt and use beach sand (if you have a beach near you). No need for expensive store bought stuff. If you dig your own substrate you will get the insect life and good bacteria (and other micro organisms) you will need to run a proper bio-active substrate.

[SavysMommy]

Wow, thank you all. We called the pet store and they said she may have a calcium deficiency and need special lizard vitamins. I have seen them at PetsMart, so should i get them? We will start construction on a new habitat right away. The top to here terarrium is actualy 2 treated pressed wood panels, on had the light fixture mounted right on it. Unfortunatly, I was at work all day today (My husband was home) and he said she still isnt eating. She looks so sad and miserable. I will pu into action everything that has been suggested, and pray that it works in time to save her. I'd just love to go back to that pet store and give the sales lady a piece of my mind. They obviously dont care at all for the animals they sell. Thank you all for your advice. Pray for my little Savy!

[infernalis]

There is no possible way that a calcium deficiency illness could manifest this soon.

Please don't stress your lizard even more bu forcing unnecessary meds onto it.

[jarich]

How is your monitor doing? Getting better?