Savanha Monitor

[warbot]

Hi everyone

I am lucky to be the daddy of two baby Savanha or Bosc Monitors, saterday (12/09/2009) my girlfriend and I took my boy out for a ride took him to the petshop
and let him get used to people worked great calm doesnt hit, hiss or tries to bite me anymore.

but yesterday my little girl alot smaller than my boy eventhough they are the same age, started doing weird things, I couldn't pick her up, she DID not wanted to be handled at all she got hickups, and fell around in the cage! actually falling over! so I left her with the boy and she was fine after 2 hours (my garter snake got out during that time as well! :/) but on saterday morning I started putting my savanhas onto canned dog food alot of ppl say it is better taking the wild out of them. oh and btw they didn't want to know anything about pinkies only crickets, both of them!
my boy likes the dog food my girl didn't, but she didn't have any on sunday (13/09/09) but he did.

what on earth is wrong with my girl I ask?!
if anyone can assist me it will be most appreciated
...oh and we put a leesh on the boy before we left don't know if that had anything to do with her reaction?!

thanks in advance

[deleray]

I know nothing about monitors but it sounds to me like you need to sell them and buy two dogs. They handle much better on leashes, love dog food and walks into town...plus they turn out to be your best friend.

[warbot]

True but for two reasons I don't like dogs,
1. They don't bark
2. no hair everywhere
3. They don't beg
4. chilled creatures
5. Robbers are just as affraid of them
6. don't have to worry about my female being on heat and messing all over the place
7. if you don't want them around when ppl are visiting, you put them in their tank.
8. they don't slobber
9. doesn't chew on my shoes
10. doesn't piss on my bed
11. they mostly do their thing in water
12. less stench and less fuss cleaning
13. a natural pest exterminator - better than any dog
14. and they are controlable
15. unlike purebred dogs they don't die at the first sighn of sickness
16. they don't cost you a fortune at the vet
17. they don't mess up your garden
18. verry intelligent!

anything else you need to know why?!

[deleray]

They sound like the perfect pet, sorting out your problem should be easy then.

[warbot]

They are

You obviously don't have one!
They are awsome my one buddy has a big one and just baught 2 babies as well, his big one is almost adult, they live for 25 years, and they are just like dogs excpet for the above listing,
Don't like cats neither.

The problem I have is not normal behaviour, all I want to know is if anyone has had this problem before then relate its not medical that I am sure of
I think this is more a fact of shock, something shocked her in some way, she got hickups cute but still a concern...

Are you against lizard pets?

[fredsmith]

Warbot. a very good thread which you might find useful would be this one below. It's a long read, but a good one nonetheless.
viewtopic.php?f=122&t=14086
From what I gather, your female is showing signs of shock

[warbot]

fredsmith, thanks alot bud
that is what I thought as well, could it be that seeing us putting on the leesh onto her young cage mate might have frightened her, or maybe the absense of him not being there?

cause that is the only two things according to me, highly intelligent animals
love them to bits!

thanks again
I'll read the post

[Buck Rogers]

OH my word I suggest you read that thread that Fredsmith mentioned and then slap your self so hard it hurts!!!! You do NOT ever ever ever feed a monitor on canned foods unless it is extremely malnourished!!! Who gave you such stupid advise?

They are nothing like dogs at all, if you want a dog go down to the local SPCA there are a lot of dogs there that could do with your attention. I am too scared to even ask what conditions you are keeping the bosc's in!!!

Oh and PS the guy that sold you a baby boy and a girl bosc's monitor just screwed you over. Read the thread and get those monitors into the correct conditions PLEASE!!!

[Copperbob]

Eish....
This is the exact reason I asked JeffG for some advice and read through that mad long topic before buying. I have since decided against it.
Delery was spot on bro, buy a dog or two.

[Bjorn]

Canned food is no good. Dog canned food is even worse as it has to much fats. If you ever feed canned food, feed cat food and something like hills a/d. More of a last resort for sick animals.

It sound like your really passionate about your new pets so I am sure you will sort things out for them. Read and read some more. Never take one persons advise. It could be that the little one is not getting the right nutrition. Many lizards can have fits etc without the correct diet/minerals.

All the best with them!

[warbot]

Hi guys I did my research long before buying these guys I red two books that I got and asked bosc owners about them,
their conditions is perfect!!, believe me I am not a novice I have them almost a year now, I only started on dog food now and see how it goes, they don't want to know anything about pinkies only crickets what am I going to feed them in a years time??

Did you think about that? chicken I stay away from! obvious reasons... salmonella as well as fish.

but anyway the first post (fredsmith) is more correct I cannot separate them my boy, and he is a boy (had them scanned by my local vet) and you can clearly see it is a boy, and actually cat food has a lot more fat than dog food.

I went through all the cans, dog and cat...

Buck Rogers, I appreciate your concern! but criticizing before you got your facts, don't!
I had a wild caught baby rock monitor for years and he lived on "boere-wors"
and he was fine.

So this is not my first, I have been catching wild ones since I was a kid and one thing missing in that post is that they are opportunistic eaters, that means they scavenge as well they will eat rotting meat, rotting fish, scorpions, eggs and their fav is puff adders and they eat the whole thing venom glands and all.

So I'm sorry dog food is really the last thing to worry about.

and she is fine now, and my boy protects his girl like you cannot believe, it so awesome!!
but now you guys can take my advise, everyone has their own ways of doing things, like I don't say that post was wrong, it might work for someone else, but not for me, my friend owns a pet store and he has a sub adult one not as tame, but I want mine to be tame!
dog tame!
and I have a dog, don't tell me to get a dog again!
And it is possible, I have seen it before, and I am going to do it! if you can teach a cat to flush I'm sure that wont be difficult.

but one thing is for sure! they are way more intelligent than we can imagine!
my two bosc's care so much for each other, and people told me not to keep two in one tank, dominance issues and such which is true if you have two adult males and a female you will have trouble !

thanks everyone!!

[warbot]

..and deleray you were right, it wasn't difficult to sort out my problem
..perfect pets...

[warbot]

Buck, how many bosc's do you have?
how long have you had them?

If you have, then you will know that it isn't difficult to tell male from females neither the two lumps under the tail, tickle the anal with a feather or sort, and it'll just pop out, if it doesn't take it to the vet like i did as well and have them scanned then you have immediate proof of weather it is a m/f!

I must say that I am highly offended by your reply on my post!
I might not be an expert but I am most definitely not a novice.

I strive on giving me my animals the best of circumstances possible!
and am not shy to pay for the best equipment needed, otherwise I would not keep them!

I am well aware that theses animals will be around for many years to come, and will be growing to a rather large size!

my babies are now at sizes 20 - 25cm incl the tail.
The circumstances I found them in were horrifying, they had newspaper, one light (not UV), no visible heat pads
small water bowl one hide!

Nothing and they had no energy, they didn't want to eat Nothing! when I got them

And since then they have grown tremendously! they are fat! not overweight!
healthy!

and did I state my female is all well and eating..., she loves attention, she comes to the glass of the tank then my girlfriend opens, then she(savanah) sits quiet then my girlfriends softly rubs the top of her head.

NOW THAT! is what I call "like a puppy" she asks for attention and the two are very attached to each other,

1m tank highly ventilated - 6 vents
3 x lights : 1 x basking , 1 x sun , 1 x UV
2 x Heat pads on one side of the tank
1 x heat regulator on an average of 30C during the day and 22C at night
2 x hide boxes on each side
25mm deep sand mixed with compost for thickness and easy digging
a large log
a huge water bowl - cleaned EVERY DAY or even twice a day
I feed them crickets, roaches, earthworms(red), silkworms
I tried feeding them quail eggs, no go!
tried pinkies, no go!
tried lean meat, no go!

They can't live on insects for the rest of their captive lives

and what would YOU as the EXPERT say should I feed them if they don't want to eat MICE?!

I think I stated my point:
1. She does not have parasites.
2. She does not have "brain" damage.
3. She is perfectly healthy.

She only had a bit of shock, "hiccups", so cute...

Thanks everyone.

[deleray]

Wow, people like you amaze me. You come on here asking for advice and when people (who in my opinion, even with my limited knowledge of boscs, sound like they know a hell of a lot more than you) tell you what you don't like to hear, you argue with them and shoot them down?

If they are not eating what they should be eating then you are doing something wrong, simple as that. Try sort that problem out and your animals will come right.

Why even post the question if you already know the answer? Dog food from the shop is utter cr@p, I would certainly not feed it to any reptile, net alone my dogs.

But go ahead, maybe you should buy them a furry jacket for the winter and teach them to fetch a stick - now that would be cool!!! Please post a video of them doing it though.

[Buck Rogers]

Look here Warbot

I am the last person to offend someone on this forum (next to Durban Keeper he is probably the nicest guy I ever) and when you ask questions like that and put a leash on a bosc's monitor I get a little concerned for an animals health and well being.

Here are what upset me buddy:

You say to me that you have had them for almost a year but then you say they are still babies and are 25cm long which tells me they are way less than a year old.

they are opportunistic eaters, that means they scavenge as well they will eat rotting meat, rotting fish, scorpions, eggs and their fav is puff adders and they eat the whole thing venom glands and all.

You say that you have done the research then you would know the c@%p that is in dog food and um no dog food is not the last thing to worry about. YOu worry about feeding a bosc's chicken because of salmonella but then admit that they can eat rotting meat and are scavengers. And to clear something up for you sir, venom is a a protein so venom glands are not a problem if eaten.

I had a wild caught baby rock monitor for years and he lived on "boere-wors"

This would be like me bragging that I have an egg eater that I feed yogurt. Yes a monitor can live on this diet but it is not ideal, I know people that live on take-aways and we all know that is not healthy so how is this different?!?

If you have, then you will know that it isn't difficult to tell male from females neither the two lumps under the tail, tickle the anal with a feather or sort, and it'll just pop out, if it doesn't take it to the vet like i did as well and have them scanned then you have immediate proof of weather it is a m/f!

A bosc's only reaches sexual maturity at 6-8 months and even then an ultra sound is not 100% accurate ask Jeff and he can tell you that.

She only had a bit of shock, "hiccups", so cute...

This is not cute, reptiles should not have hiccups!

You have got your cage spot on which I compliment you on so few people realise how to set up a cage correctly so you have done that right, except why do you have so many lights in the cage? What are the temps at the hot spot and do they have a spot to go to cool off. When she 'fell' over did she bite her back foot? Take advantage of a young monitor eating insects, in the wild up to 95% of their diet consists of insects so it is not a bad thing, as they grow their diet and preferences change to.