Helping us help Harley! Pic heavy

[BlueButterfly]

Ok, We are very new to the world of monitors. we do have a beardie..but obviously that hardly even compairs to this! We had a Savannah monitor dropped on us by some friends who couldnt keep him. He didnt even have a name! anyway... when we got him he lived in an exo terra on repti bark, ate only Tuna and scrambled egg.. we started by naming him Harley..



I was worried as i thought he looked lethargic and unactive...but i am not sure how active they are supposed to be...




This felt wrong for me.. so I started reserching and reading, asking questions and trying to figure how to give him the best i can.. so we decided to build a 6 X 2 X 4 two story enclosure for him..


i know it needs to be bigger so we have made it so we can add on when we move. but for now this is the best we can do. so here is what we have got so far..

there is 10 + inches of sand soil peatmoss mixture all chemical/pest etc free. his litterbox...lots of hiding places, one side has four smaller light fixtures and the basking spot is 130 degrees, the other side has one large light with a flood light it is around 96 degrees, in the middle is a 5.0 uv light just in case..lol..rather safe then sorry.. plus it adds nice lighting to the cage...then the bottom floor is staying around 70-80... moisture on the top floor is about 20% and bottom floor is averaging about 60% not sure about in his burrows...which he has already dug!!!



I have him eating crickets, snails, earthworms, silkworms, mealworms, and the occational frozen (thawed) mouse. no more tuna or eggs at all. he is eating well and pretty redily accepted everything i have offered him so far.
So here are some pics of him enjoying his new enclosure... I see an improvement.. His skin tone seems better, he is more active and seems to be enjoying exploring and digging etc.




OK so am I doing ok? any improvements with diet.. or cage? is this okay? I believe its an improvement anyway.. considering what he had...

[infernalis]

Very impressed so far. This lizard is in much better hands. Hard to criticize anything here, you know what you need to do, you are doing it, KUDOS.

Read over savannahmonitor.co, good stuff.

[alessia55]

I'm no expert but from what I've learned, you're doing really well!!

[Norm66]

I'm ignorant of monitors but it looks great and if Wayne says its good that's pretty good. He'd tell you if it weren't. Good luck with him!

[Mikey T]

this is the second time i have seen a sav with a dirt "hat" sooo cute. do they use their heads like a plow when they dig or something? i know my black throat just uses his claws

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by Mikey T

this is the second time i have seen a sav with a dirt "hat" sooo cute. do they use their heads like a plow when they dig or something? i know my black throat just uses his claws

Yes, savs use their heads like a shovel.

[Bradyloach]

Looks great! doing a good job keep posting pics

[KORBIN5895]

I am very impressed. My only question is on the substrate depth. I was under the impression it needed to be close to two feet deep. I don't own monitors so I am not sure.

[Bradyloach]

Yes 20"-24" is the range they need

[AaronRiot]

I know next to nothing about keeping monitors.

I do know how to spot an improvement though, and just from the pics my hats off to you. Nice save. Looks like a very rewarding experience is in the works for both keeper and captive.

[youngster]

Holy crap that enclosure is awesome!

Mad props to you!

[BlueButterfly]

Thanks everyone! He is doing better. I hope. He is exploring and digging and chasing bugs and swimming and basking and climbing up and Down the ramp. But I'm going to redo the ramp as he is having trouble getting down it. He just slides down and I'm worried he will hurt himself. Any ideas to give him more traction? I added sand to the paint when we painted the ramp. And he has no trouble getting up. It's just down that concerns me. What can I use? We thought maybe adding some 1x2 s every few inches. Will that work?

[infernalis]

I used slab wood (the bark leftover at sawmills)

Lizard ladders work, just screw down some slats every few inches.