brought home a monitor; Atlas

i brought home a savannah moniter who is probably about to die. from what ive heard, he hasnt eaten for 2 weeks... he was free and since i had an empty tank and spare lights...

he went into his cave so im not going to bother him for a picture, ill post one tomorrow if he makes it through the night.

if anyone has any suggestions, im all ears.

i am glad to say he is doing ALOT better . this morning i thought about trying to feed him some of that Repta-Aid but decided against it. ive tried a couple of times and he hurts himself by struggling and squirming. i set up his tank as best i could and left for work, hoping for the best.

well i came home about 30min ago and went straight to his tank; he was in the corner next to his basking spot. it looked like he was trying to get away from the heat so i picked him up and placed him infront of his hide. instead of going in he turned around at the entrance and walked back out into the open. i thought "he hasnt taken food in 2 weeks but what the hey"; i went and got my cricket holder. i placed the tub next to his tank and to my surprise he started coming after the crickets! i picked one up and smooshed its head. as soon as it hit the paper towell he had it 8) .

watching him eat was pretty pitifull. when he caught the cricket it was with 1/100th the force of a normal strike. when he tried to grind the cricket into the ground it barely smashed. the saddest part was when he tried to shake it around ; the violent snaps of a healthy moniter were replaced by weak little wiggles.

he only ate the first one like that. the other three he ate pretty much straight away. im just glad to give a happy update instead of another sad one.

here are some pics and vids of the little guy:






my computer is really acting up right now... ive crashed like 5 times just trying to add picture code to this post. i have more pics but these give you an idea of what he looks like.

ok, my computer behaving alittle better now. here are a couple more pics:





by the way, he climbed up here right after eating those crickets. i offered him another but he was appearently full.

should i let him fall asleep there, or should i place him in front of his hide when i turn the lights out?

Hello Jason,

He is looking SO much better now! Great job!
Keep us posted on him. He is a nice looking monitor.

Tracie

good stuff. .

Hi Jason,

Good luck with this new baby. He/she is aware of the crickets and interested in watching them, and I'd say that's a real good sign. :laughing6: Offer as much as she/he will eat as often as you can, and the appetite may snap back to a normal pace. I have no experience with monitors, so wiser heads will have to speak up with monitor specifics, but in experience with lack of appetite, sometimes the appetite slows when an animal is repeatedly offered much less than it really needs, shutting it down and slowly starving to death. When I got Hob, she was quite small, 5 1/2 inches at 2 and a half months old, eating maybe one or two crickets a day, up to a total of five offered in a day. I took the limits off what she was offered, and within the week found her eating 70-150 a day for the next month. Even though I was dusting crickets, she grew so fast that first month, she needed extra calcium from the vet to keep up with an inch a week growth. :roll: After that burst, she settled into a 50-100 a day range for the rest of her first six months. On the other hand, it took six months with Galadriel to get her eating consistently on her own, with a wide variety of foods and methods tried to interest her in eating. I hope your monitor regains it's appetite as easily as Hob did. I know your care will be full of love, and that is also a big part of the healing process. As always, :love5: :love5: :love5: :love5: :love5: :love5: :love5: to your whole family!

Sooo cute but sooo skinny!

I agree it was probably use to that being all it was offered so just keep offering and see what happens!!

Oh, Jason bless your heart again!

That poor little guy who on earth would treat any creature that way? I hate to see anyone or anything hungry but that is ridiculous. It looks like you have your job cut out for you with him. It is a good sign that he is still eating even though it's not much. I agree with the others just feed him as often as he will eat.

Again Bless Your Heart! :love5:

And thanks for sharing.

ok, i came home and saw a poop. i thought everything was ok. i took him out and ran some warm water over him and put him back in.

well about 2 minutes later, he started looking like he was having a siezure. he opened his mouth as wide as could be and then started shaking his head back and forth violently. he threw up ... 3 seperate crickets. the third one got stuck and wouldnt come out. i gave him a drop of water in his open mouth and he swallowed the 3rd cricket that came up.

he looks alright now but that really scared me. it was hard to watch him thrashing around like that. i thought he was about to die infront of my eyes.

please somebody help.

Hello Jason,

Well, what may have happened is that since he has been so emaciated for so long, that he might be having trouble digesting protein. How long had it been since he had been fed, BEFORE you got him?
I know you had told me that he was kept an suboptimal conditions & the temps were way too low. His body will have to get used to being warmer & become adjusted to the conditions.
What else has he had to eat? How large were the crickets?
How much fluid has he gotten?

Tracie

i dont know about fluid. i soak him twice a day for 10-20min eaxh time. he has water in his tank but i dont know if he uses it. his poop was yellowish liquid with a partially digested cricket in it. he pooped again, this time he was undulating his body like a snake while pooping; it was runny and yellow with no crickets that i could see.

before i fed him, he hadnt eaten for about 12 days. after i got the temps right he ate 3-4, he really seemed to want them... when the first one went down i though he could have another. they were 4wk old crix(3/4"). they werent lodged in his throat. he opened his throat wide and i could see it was stuck to the inside wall of his throat. thats when i gave him a drop of water, i thought it would help it slip out.

i havent tried feeding him that repta-aid formula, lately. he struggled alot last time i did. should i try syringe feeding him again?

thanks for the help tracie :wink: .

and thank you to everyone for showing your support for this little guy. i hope he makes it through this...

Oh Jason I bet you are very worried I sure would be. I know absolutely nothing about monitors.
But I was just wondering can they be fed baby food or would making a slurry out of the crickets help?
Again I know nothing about Monitors it's just a thought.
I wish you the best.

hey barbara :| . well, i have this stuff "repta-aid". its for malnourished carnivorous/insectavores. it has fat, calories, protien and vitamins all in proportion for a lizard like him.

the trouble is he wont let me put the syringe in his mouth. i try to get it in there when he flicks his tounge but its pretty hard; he just backs his head up and closes his mouth tight.

Again I know nothing.............
But would it be possible to put a couple of drops from a syringe between his teeth and lip area at the side of his jaw? I would think that even if it's only a little it would be better than nothing.