Your Reptile and Amphibian Resource and Information Site

Back to Monitors Forum   Forums   Home   Members Area  

Monitors Forum

Joxxer15   Conan   Conan   Joxxer15   Mimic   Joxxer15   SDKSnowboy   SDKSnowboy   Joxxer15   SDKSnowboy   SDKSnowboy   SHvar   Joxxer15  
 Member  Message

 #431133


Joxxer15
View Profile

 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

I Have a problem with My Argus Monitor.....He’s not growing....He’s 5.5 months old(got em as a hatchling) and he’s only 12 inches long..Well, the other day I started noticing him every so often twitching his legs...He eats verociously but looks very feeble in the limbs. Am I not supposed to feed him mice or should I add supplements(I just started him on Flukers Reptile Vitamin Powder yesterday)? I just know that If I get to the bottom of this issue Now, I may still have a large Monitor being that he’s still quite young.... He’s just Too old to be looking like a hatchling still. I Need suggestions.. Thanks guys, Jesse.
08/06/05  05:49pm

 #431170


Conan
View Profile



   Message To: Joxxer15   In reference to Message Id: 431133


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

Ok....Loaded question...What is the Best and Most Practical caging for a 2 1/2’ Monitor. What can I buy From Wal-Mart, so to speak, that is easy, practical and serves it’s purpose without invading Valuable Personal space in the Apartment? Given He’ll not be out a lot(Work ties me up a lot). I am not trying to buy a Reptile enclosure because for what Monitors need, You never realy find the right size(never Big Enough) you know what I mean....Any Ideas would be awesome. Just looking a Simplicity for My Argus.
You need to explain your set up you probally have houseing issues.
08/06/05  06:11pm

 #431179


Conan
View Profile



   Message To: Conan   In reference to Message Id: 431170


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

Do some research on the thing for christ sakes. Poor lizard.
08/06/05  06:16pm

 #431220


Joxxer15
View Profile



   Message To: Conan   In reference to Message Id: 431179


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

I Don’t know what you mean. I have him in a 30 gal now with heat lamp keeping it 130 on one end and his diet consists of turkey and mice...I’ve done all the research, Conan, that’s Why i’ve come here, as a last resort. Nothing is wrong with my setup for this reptile. He’s just leterally not growing...Maybe having something to do with the fact that he is an ArgusXFlavi Cross and may genetically be dwarfed(what I’m trying to Find out). I’m not doing anything wrong with his Husbandry....That why I’m in such dimay.
08/06/05  06:45pm

 #431260


Mimic
View Profile



   Message To: Joxxer15   In reference to Message Id: 431220


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

are you providing D3 (uva/uvb) or natural sun light?



08/06/05  07:16pm

 #431272


Joxxer15
View Profile



   Message To: Mimic   In reference to Message Id: 431260


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

yes, indeed....He is outside under our screened in porch under direct sunlight during the day and Brought in at night.
08/06/05  07:28pm

 #431285


SDKSnowboy
View Profile



   Message To: Joxxer15   In reference to Message Id: 431220


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

Problem is, You should have come here as your first resort. When you say its 130 on one end, I will assume you mean the actual temperature of the cage, that is waay too hot, You need to get a Digital Infared Heatgun and make the Basking spots SURFACE TEMPERATURE 130+, the tank should only be around 90 degrees on the hot side, around 70 coolside. Drop the turkey from his diet, this is a lizard you are feeding not a person. A 30 Gal tank will last you possibly a month before you need to look into building a new enclosure. You may think you have done all of the research, but your husbandry is way off, what kind of substrate are you using? And for the love of god if you are checking that 130 degree temperature with a thermometer and not a heat gun cool off that cage before you fry your poor lizard.
08/06/05  07:50pm

 #431292


SDKSnowboy
View Profile



   Message To: SDKSnowboy   In reference to Message Id: 431285


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

If you can give us a picture of the enclosure you are keeping him in right now we can probaly tell you the things that need to be changed immediatly. Also things like, how often you are feeding him, temperatures on the warmside/coolside of the tank, humidity levels etc. Also, you don’t need to dust mice, they have enough calcium already.
08/06/05  07:55pm

 #431318


Joxxer15
View Profile



   Message To: SDKSnowboy   In reference to Message Id: 431292


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

well, his stools are runnie and White(Calcium) which leads me to believe he is having a calcium deficiency and is not metabolising the calcium..About the temp, I was typing quickly but the temp is 85 cool side and 110-115 bask spot(Surface of course) using infrared temp gun I Bought 7-8 months back. Substrate is Dirt(No Sand) deep enough to hold a burrow. I Have no pics to send,sorry, cuz I can use all the help I can get. I Seriously think he is a genetic dwarf but I’d Like to Know for sure....Thanks Snowboy.
08/06/05  08:14pm

 #431338


SDKSnowboy
View Profile



   Message To: Joxxer15   In reference to Message Id: 431318


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

Well firstoff, try raising your basking spot up closer to the light to get the surface temp upwards of 130, it’s essential for proper digestion. Your coolside should be a bit cooler, around 70, but if you cant get it any cooler then 85 make sure your substrate is deep as possible so he can burrow to cool off. Your warmside should be around 90. Also you didnt mention how often you were feeding him, and as a further question, what type of light are you using for his basking spot?



08/06/05  08:26pm

 #431345


SDKSnowboy
View Profile



   Message To: SDKSnowboy   In reference to Message Id: 431338


 HELP!!!!!!!! Help me please

Also, what is your warmside/coldside humidity?
08/06/05  08:32pm

 #431724


SHvar
View Profile



   Message To: Joxxer15   In reference to Message Id: 431318


 Ok, first of all you need to understand what you have set up ..

And what it does for the lizard. If its not growing there should have been a red flag a long time ago.
First, the animal should be eating as many and as much mice as it can it a young monitor ,they do this, worse yet argus are bottomless pits, they are hungry almost constantly. Drop the turkey, just use as many mice as it can eat period, it gets all needed calcium, vitamins, etc from the mice it eats, thats the best food you can feed it, whole animal foods, mice, arats, quail, chicken peeps, roaches, crickets, etc. Notice I did not say turkey, lunch meat, eggs, steak, ham, dogfood or catfood, these are NOT good for the monitor at all.
Its doesnt need any UV bulbs, UV lighting from the sun filtering in etc, they need usable temps, a SURFACE temp of 130f on a basking spot froma piece of plywood with a 45 watt floodlight mounted 12 inches above that surface. The AIR temperatures should range from 86f-around 75f on the surface, underground, under the dirt it should be living on it can be 68f and 100% humidity, on the surface 45% is fine, but give it a range also from 65% down. These AIR temps are just that ambient temps. You should never have air or ambient temps above 100f to 110 or you will have a dead lizard.
Now to the twitching, remember I said about whole animal foods having everything they need in them? Well you fed turkey as a basis, correct with rodents? Turkey contains no calcium or other needed nutrients such as whole animal foods do. The twitching tells me you needed to see an experienced herp vet last month, it is a form of MBD most probably where the animal does not get a rubbery jaw, soft skeleton but instead it suffers from the calcium being sucked from its backbone which in turn colapses in on its spinal cord, now powder or hard calcium supplements, and UV bulbs, none of that will work, only 2 things will to save it.
You need to get it to a herpvet ASAP, next he will probably perscribe liquid calcium, this is the only way they can absorb it at this point as they are far beyond the ability to absorb solid calcium it just passes.
What you see in the droppings is not calcium, you see uric acid, its a dry concentrated urine, after all these animals recycle 70% of their water back through their kidneys to conserve it, the resulting concentrate is solid, the drier and more dehydrated they are the higher concentrated the uric acid is(you know the stuff that looks like calcium).
To prevent dehydartion which also prevents them from being able to digest properly, and kills them you need a bigger cage, and most of all throw the screen top as far away as you can its killing your lizard. The more room results in more gradient, more substrate space, more humidity gradient, happier healthier monitor.
I have a Storrs monitor, that is the second smallest species on the planet, it lives in a cage thats bigger than a 30 gallon, and has a solid top with the bulb inside the cage, like all of my other lizards have.
This is the ackie cage, note where the bulb is, inside, with the lizards. It doesnt have to be this close though, these guys love 195f basking temps.


The storrs, hes a huge beast huh?lol


This pretty girl lives in the cage pictured next, shes a flavi argus cross, shes growing already in a few weeks Ive had her, she lives in a 3x3x6ft cage with a foot deep of dirt in it, shes 3ft long.


Heres the cage..


This is the one end of the cage for my little girl Sobek, shes a huge albig.


Note, no sceentops, all solid, all 45-30 watt bulbs.
Now there is also a beardie cage, the baby bosc cage, the pinesnake cage, the Asian wolf spider cage, and the empty 3x3x6ft cage sitting there waiting to either be adapted for the ackies or whatever Ill move into it someday.



08/07/05  02:09am

 #435585


Joxxer15
View Profile



   Message To: SHvar   In reference to Message Id: 431724


 Ok, first of all you need to understand what you have set up ..

Hey SHvar,
Thanks for the input...made sense. I did exactly what ya told me. In the last couple of days, I’ve bought a Sterilite 50 Gal clear tub with 4 1/2 inches of wet(not soggy) dirt which I then hand packed down to be sturdy enough for a burrow, along with a 50 watt halogen floodlight which is a good 14" off the surface of the bask spot, a water sprayer which is used daily to keep humidity high, and a Bigger soak tub. With those changes "Kensie"(Argus) has had a complete turnaround...I also observed that what I thought was twitching is actually her flexing as she eats(the only time she "Twitched") to work the food down. She can eat Two Hoppers in a sitting and then goes straight to the Basking spot and Flattens out completely and stays there for 1/2 hour eyes closed and occasional open mouth for venting. I am also proud to report with these temp and living condition changes, She has already started to Shed(amazing only to me simply due to the fact that she hasn’t shed in a couple of months....An obvious turnaround, wouldn’t you agree? She’s only six months old so I think she’s still got time to grow to a good size(not sure how big that would be). The temps on the temp gun for surface are: Basking area = 132f, cool end of enclosure = 82f Humidity is at about 50% but dirt humidity = 100% and she already has intricate mazes of tunnels streaming from one end to another(2 3/4 ft long). Just thought that I’d send you a post to tell you thanks. Things are really lookin’ up for Kensie and that means the world to me. Thanks again...Jess
08/09/05  10:50pm


Back to Monitors Forum   Forums   Home   Members Area