# I just got a Savannah Monitor, and I need advice...



## Nivek (May 30, 2005)

*I just got a Savannah Monitor, and I need advice... (UPDATE, VERY GOOD NEWS)*

Hello. Today, as a graduation gift, I received a 75 gallon tank set up (which will arrive tomorrow, some supplies, 2 bearded dragon babies, a leapord gecko baby, a blue spiney, and a savannah monitor baby. Now, I read that a healthy monitor eats when offered food, and mine, though it looks and acts healthy, hasn't eaten its pinky all day...Should I be worried? it is also molting, and was rubbing its head on my leg earlier and what appeared to be yawning...I would love all advice, and also, would Calci sand or repti bark work as substrate? (also, any advice on the others would be awesome!) One last question, will calci-sand or repti bark work with blue spiney and leapord? Thanks loads!

Well, I added some potting soil, thanks to the advice I was given, and it did the trick! The monitor is doing awesome, eating great, and very active! Thank you all VERY much for the advice!


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## misfitsfiend (May 30, 2005)

I keep my baby leo's on paper towel. They can ingest the sand, which isnt always good for them, and the calci-sand isnt as easy to digest as they may have you believe.


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## meier link (May 30, 2005)

theyre not all going in the 75 are they?


> Now, I read that a healthy monitor eats when offered food, and mine, though it looks and acts healthy, hasn't eaten its pinky all day...Should I be worried?


well what else have u offered it? try crickets , turkey balls, or light cat food(not good as a staple,but will help get ur varinid on better foods)



> it is also molting, and was rubbing its head on my leg earlier and what appeared to be yawning...I would love all advice, and also, would Calci sand or repti bark work as substrate? (also, any advice on the others would be awesome!) One last question, will calci-sand or repti bark work with blue spiney and leapord? Thanks loads!


yawning is fine. as far as substarte i use potting soil and lots of it..
neither calci sand or repti bark are any good ime.
give it lots and lots of dirt to dig in and ull be fine

good luck with ur new herps


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## Nivek (May 31, 2005)

So I am guessing that Peat Moss will be fine? Also, I have been feeding it redworms and nightcrawlers, which it accepts readily. Though, it seems to eat only when hungry rather than when offered food....


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## Bigboy (May 31, 2005)

*monitor*

Reptibark is perfectly fine for your baby sav.  I kept mine on nothing but for 3years and never had a single problem.  If your baby isn't eatting make sure it has an adequate basking spot.  Something in the 120f range.  Also they'll act very odd without proper lighting so give them a proper day and night cycle.  Don't rely on ambient light in the room if you are which I'm almost positive you are not.  with Monitors the best way to see if the animal is sick or not is to check two places, the eyes and the hips.  If you can see hips sticking out it may have parasites in its gut or some other malady casuing it to waste away and if it's eyes are at half mast, cloudy, or don't zero in on fast movement then it is either cold or again sick.  Keep your baby happy and it'll keep you happy.  Just make sure you hold it often or you'll wind up with a very large, very belligerent herp on your hands.  Handleing once a day with young for a five to fifteen minutes is sufficient to tame a monitor.  I suggest checking out www.proexotics.com 's savannah monitor caresheet and the adjoining Mellisa Kaplan caresheet.


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## meier link (May 31, 2005)

> Reptibark is perfectly fine for your baby sav. I kept mine on nothing but for 3years and never had a single problem.


like i said, it just my opinion that repti bark is useless, but i definately prefer a soil based substrate for a sav.Savs are oppertunistic burrowers, and IME will be much more active and take food much more readily if they are given the ability to burrow if ur trying to fill a 75g tank reptibark is gonna be 3x the price of soil
just my 0.02


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## Nivek (May 31, 2005)

If I add enough potting soil for substrate, will my undertank heater still work good enough?


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## meier link (May 31, 2005)

> If I add enough potting soil for substrate, will my undertank heater still work good enough?


itll warm the soil , but a heat mat is insufficeint for a sav.
u need to have a basking lamp and a lamp for ambiant temp, and night lights
Savvies like it hot


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## Nivek (May 31, 2005)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/Ilovespiders/Reptiles/Savannah Monitor/IMG_0013.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/Ilovespiders/Reptiles/Savannah Monitor/IMG_0012.jpg

Those are a couple pictures I have of it, does it seem healthy? I checked for the hips and eyes and all seemed good, but I am not as experienced as a lot of you, so I thought it would be best to ask the pros! Thanks again you all for all the help!


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## Beardo (May 31, 2005)

> Hello. Today, as a graduation gift, I received a 75 gallon tank set up (which will arrive tomorrow, some supplies, 2 bearded dragon babies, a leapord gecko baby, a blue spiney, and a savannah monitor baby


_theyre not all going in the 75 are they_?


I'm still waiting for this question to be answered....


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## Nivek (May 31, 2005)

Of course, I figured that now that I have a 75 gallon tank, I can put all my animals in it.  lol, only the monitor gets the 75. I may be new to reptiles and all, but I am not a total moron, lol. No worries, I plan to take the BEST care of my pets as humanly possible for me to do! In fact, I am going to the pet shop tomorrow to get some more of the supplies: more UVB, more heat lamps, food, heat pads, heat rocks, hides, etc.


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## meier link (May 31, 2005)

> I am going to the pet shop tomorrow to get some more of the supplies: more UVB, more heat lamps, food, heat pads, heat rocks, hides, etc.


u should make some meat balls for ur savie about 2x a week imo (pm me and ill send u some recipies)
as far as heat rocks..dont bother. no good will come of them


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## Schlyne (May 31, 2005)

Don't get the heat rocks, it's way to easy for any reptile to burn themselves on the rocks.  They don't heat evenly.  Otherwise, you can cut the cord and it'll make a decent rock decoration, but you might as well save your money.


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## Nivek (Jun 1, 2005)

Alright, thanks a lot. Should I take out the heat rock in with my beardies?


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## Slizarus (Jun 1, 2005)

Well here's the thing.. Most of the reports of heat rocks causing burns are true, but they're from hot rocks which shorted out or were improperly made.. 
Now adays they use multiple heat nodes which spreads the heat out fairly evenly and most have an autoshut off when they get too hot, if nothing else.. you can use a rheostat, I've been keeping large snakes on hot rocks for years with no trouble, I've never had a problem with them, I say you can trust the newer rocks, but it all depends on what you want.

As to the Savannah.. 
A real small grained sand mixed with peat moss works really well although it's a bit heavy.. slightly damp it holds it's shape and shouldn't provide too much humidity neither should it cause impaction problems if ingested, although if you notice something I reccomend soaking in warm water.. the biggest problem would be the peat moss absorbing water and blocking the system up.. but unless it's compulsive, it's likely it won't happen .

One warning: Never use Carefresh, I spent $250 on emergency vet bills at 2 am in the morning to rescue a $14 monitor lizard I only had for a month.. and it still died, due to the carefresh dehydrating him internally.. it's absorbent.. too much really and it killed him, he died of dehydration before anything else.. it wouldn't cause trouble in larger things.. but I don't reccomend it for any lizard under 24" or atleast the bulk of a 18" savannah

I know you didn't ask about it, but what on earth is a blue spiney? Any other common name? I know quite a bit about herps.. but that's a new one for me.

Good luck with everything! Great choice, though the Sav may have been a bit unwise for a starter, as long as it's temperment is ok, you could have a dog tame varanid, the dream of all of us


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## Beardo (Jun 1, 2005)

Heat rocks=garbage. Cut the cords or toss em out if you have them, and don't buy any more in the future.

The whole "the new ones don't short out" thing is pure marketing propoganda. Having worked in several pet stores, I have had seen people return the "new" hot rocks numerous times because they either shorted out and didn't work at all, or because they fried their snake/lizard. 

Another problem with heat rocks is that they don't heat anything but the area that the rock takes up, alot of the time leaving the ambient temps in the enclosure lower than they should be. This is why many burns occur....the herp has no other heat source than the heat rock and is forced to choose between 2 extremes in temperature. A nice, hot basking light is the way to go for your monitor.


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## Nivek (Jun 1, 2005)

Alright, thanks for the advice. I am about to go to a local petshop right now and get some basking supplies. I really appreciate all the advice!


Also, This is what the dealer referred to as a Blue Spiney

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/Ilovespiders/Reptiles/Blue Spiney/newreps020.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/Ilovespiders/Reptiles/Blue Spiney/newreps018.jpg


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## Beardo (Jun 1, 2005)

The only supplies you need is a dome lamp and a regular light bulb. I used 75-100 watt bulbs for my Savannah when I had him and the temps were perfect. Of course, he was only a juvenile so higher wattage bulbs may be needed for larger monitors. 

ANd whats up with the blue stuff on the Spiney's feet? Been dipping him in Kool-Aid? lol


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## Joe (Jun 2, 2005)

DavidBeard said:
			
		

> ANd whats up with the blue stuff on the Spiney's feet? Been dipping him in Kool-Aid? lol


Calci-sand or something similar would be my guess.


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## Nivek (Jun 2, 2005)

Yup, that would be blue calci-sand


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## Beardo (Jun 2, 2005)

Toss that crap out as well. The dyes in it can be harmful to your lizard if swallowed, plus the granules are rather large and contrary to what the label may say, it is not digestable. I suggest either newspaper or paper towels for an efficient, safe substrate.


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## Nivek (Jun 2, 2005)

All tanks are going to be on newspaper by the end of the day, I appreciate the help.


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