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#2270768
Prm
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Merten water monitor 
Hi all new to this site,we have a mertens water monitor,have been changing husbandry in viv as my mertens doing strange things that my bearded and eastern water dragons didn’t.This is the the viv at the moment have replaced the middle section of viv with play pit sand and kept it damp Rex dug holes and went missing for a week with no site of him,i gave in and had a peak at what is happening and the following day he was out again i put food in that morning and by night nothing was eaten so took it out and fed to bearded dragon and was gone straight away.Have been putting in crickets and woodies but have been catching the crickets my self as watching tv at night is like sitting in the desert with the noise they make and when changing water pond water over the woodies are under that and with Rex out he just sits and watch’s them running for cover.Was thinking maybe overfeeding him so cutting back on his food and he is also shedding skin at the moment has been swimming in pond,climbing branches but have never seen him on basking rock does sleep under it and have put it flat on the floor or raised up higher still never seen him on it.Does climb a branch under the uv light and is quite happy to stretch out there.Im using a digital hygrometer and a IR heat gun.Was thing of taking out some climbing branches that are up high and see if he looks for heat on the basking site. Tank set up at the moment = cold end on the ground = 27 deg
= hot end on the ground =32 deg
=humidity 70%
=basking site is 46 deg and hotter
=substrate is 27 deg
= highest branch under uv tube is 34 deg
= sand and soil is 29 deg
= water 26 deg.
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06/21/12 05:18pm
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#2270779
Daryl-
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Message To: Prm In reference to Message Id: 2270768
Merten water monitor
I’m not an expert on Mertens, but I can give you a hand on general monitor care.
1st thing, how long have you had him? Plus, do you have any photos of him and the enclosure?
Secondly, I would bump up the basking temp a tad, 114f is a bit too low, try 125-130, however, you mentioned it was a basking rock which can absorb the heat thus making it hotter than what it seems - this could be why it is currently not basking due to the rock burning it’s stomach.
You sure ’he’ is not a ’she’? Only females lay infertile eggs and during that process act a tad different and may go off food.
But pictures will help get a better judgement and hopefully others will chop in!
Daryl
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06/21/12 06:07pm
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#2270802
Prm
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Message To: Daryl- In reference to Message Id: 2270779
Merten water monitor
Monitor is about 6 month’s,we have had it from the 5th of may,sex dosen’t matter as only keeping 1 monitor.I understand that thay grow large and the monitor will have a outdoor enclosure built at the end of this year with a pond that i used outside for my eastern water dragons for swimming in. 
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06/21/12 07:43pm
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#2270838
Daryl-
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Message To: Prm In reference to Message Id: 2270802
Merten water monitor
Sex does matter. Like I said, they lay infertile eggs, and it seems convenient that as soon as you put some substrate in the monitor uses it. I’m going to wait for others to pipe in now, but how do you know it is a male?
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06/22/12 02:10am
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#2270841
Dillonh24
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Message To: Daryl- In reference to Message Id: 2270838
Merten water monitor
Like Daryl said they will still lay infertile eggs regardless. If you put close ups of the monitor on here I’m sure someone can determine the sex for ya.
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06/22/12 02:23am
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#2270843
Prm
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Message To: Dillonh24 In reference to Message Id: 2270841
Merten water monitor
I’m not saying it’s a he,acording to scails and tails sexing mertens is unreliable but males tend to be bigger,bluer tinge to the face but not taken as general rule.The best option is to use x-ray where the calcium spines of males hemipenes show up distinctively in MATURE animals.Not sure but mine being 6mth’s old is mature to tell yet but i’m not a expert just finding if it’s normall behaviour that HE/SHE is doing, as saying sex dosen’t matter we are not breeding monitors as have bred bearded and eastern dragons with excellant results and it dosen’t interest me doing it again.
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06/22/12 03:44am
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#2270846
Kriminaal
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Message To: Prm In reference to Message Id: 2270843
Merten water monitor
The reason they are saying sex matters is if it’s a female when she starts producing eggs, you want to have a suitable site so she doesn’t have complications.
Another note is I don’t know if I’d believe too many people on sexing Mertens as there are very few who would have reliable knowledge on the topic.
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06/22/12 07:53am
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#2270854
Krusty
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Message To: Kriminaal In reference to Message Id: 2270846
Merten water monitor
Mertens’ are VERY difficult to sex. Whoever said that is correct. But that lizard is too small and young for eggs just yet.
All female Monitors will start laying eggs and frequently. Doesn’t matter if you have a male or not, they need good nesting or you’ll eventually lose ?her? to egg-related issues if you ignore this (and it pans out female). Try caging a touch hotter and see if the appetite comes up. Anything in the Gouldii clade normally eats like a glutton!
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06/22/12 10:32am
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#2270886
Prm
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Message To: Krusty In reference to Message Id: 2270854
Merten water monitor
Thanks didn’t know nesting started at a juvenile age have left sand in there and yesterday gave some boiled egg on food bowl and placed on basking site and monitor walked around looking for it and found it a gobbled it straight down and sat on basking rock for a while and left and came back never done that before it’s like the monitor didn’t know it was there spent the next couple of hours doing this so hopfully monitor will bask on it’s.Thats the only concern i had pooping in pond good,digging good,eating good,sitting under uv tube good now hopfully basking on heat rock is good.
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06/22/12 04:32pm
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