hi i have a lil baby savannah monitor, about 8-9 inches long snout to tip. i am guessing it is a male because when i try to interact with him, he likes to poop on me, pushing out 2 little nobs which are perhaps his....manlyness.lol.anyway. he is always hissing even if its the 1st thing in the morning and he dusnt even have energy, u know he hasnt basked at all or anything. recently he has started bitting while it used 2 just be gaping. its not a bite and hang on like my other sav used to do. it is a bite and thrash till he comes loose. anyway i really need some tips on how to calm him down i do not want a 3 ft beast biting and thrashing, because then i will not be able to even type on this forum sheet, and i would hate to have to give him away cause he is a really cool guy but he dusnt know thats wut i think of him. please help me out is you have any ideas. thnx
First off, don't panic this is very normal Some babies are just more fiesty than others, but this is normal and even healthy. It shows that they are aware and cautious, so be proud u got a smart animal on your hands If it is possible to place his cage in a place that there is alot of human interaction around him it will help alot, or in a room where he can see people walking back and forth and realize that they are not coming out of nowhere all of a sudden to pick him up and eat him. One way I used to get my baby savs to warm up to me was to warm Them up. If you have a heating pad and a soft towel, wrap him up in it, show him that you are there to provide him comfort. But the main thing, and only thing that will do the trick, is patience. Handle him daily, he WILL eventually get used to you and it will take time depending on the animal's personality. But with constant calm handling (that doesn't mean "playing with") at first, it will happen, just don't get frustrated if you are trying to rush it because you really can't, that's the worst thing to do. Also I learned that when they are new and still aren't quite sure what you are or what you're about yet, when you take him out put him in an area where there are things he can check out but not get away from you, like dont put him in the kitchen where he can run under the fridge, Then just let him check things out and let him come to you when he wants to, don't reach & grab for him if he wanders away a few feet everytime (this will make him dread coming out) Just sit there and move a little bit to show him you aren't gonna hurt him and let him get comfortable in that secure area. I would do this once or twice a day and it really seemed to get their trust faster, just gotta be patient & know that he will eventually be cool w/ you.
what are your temps? and how long have you had him? for a sav to not bask is odd. try putting a piece of clothe with your scent on it in the enclosure by where he hangs out this should get him used to your scent. try holding him for 5min a day and slowing increasing it. do not put him back in the enclosure until he settles
o no he basks daily. i have his little 1/2 a log under the lamp so he will lay flat out ther for hrs a day. and every now and then he goes to the other side of his cage to chill in his water dish. it freaks me out when he submerges himslef for more thn a minuite. shuld i let him do so? cause i usually just take him out if i think he is holding his breath for too long. before i put in his 100 watt, he used to burrow himself under his bedding. i only had a 50 watt in there, but now the hot side of his cage is around 90-100, depending on the weather because i have him right by the window. is having him by the window a good idea? but yeh, i think he seems to like the temps. because he used to have a relativley dark color, but now he has brightened up, even when the light are not on.
they can hold their breathe for a few minutes and would love if you filled up the bathtub with warm water for him to swim in once a week. how big is the cage? being by the window isnt good that is what is bringing up the temp too. the overall tank should be 80-85F with a basking spot of 120F. monitors dont change color to mood. they get darker to absorb heat and lighter to reflect the heat.
yeh that is what i was saying when i had the 50 watt it was clearley not warm enough because he was sluggish and dark.right now he is in a 30 gal, but he is still but 9 inches from snout to tip. and when the time comes i will either have him in a custom built or move him to the 50 galon if i dont have a boa in there by that time. but either way i will definetly need to build a cage for him, but probobly not till the end of the year or so because this summer i am building a cage for my iguana and hopefully bringing in a boa.
it takes patience and time. start off with taking him out for a few minutes a day and then put him back only when he is calm
Yep don't let him go back in when he's mad and fussy, make sure you show him that he doesn't have anything to run from, by putting him back it's just showing him that he "ran away from that big thing with hands, close call"
ok, and what about the pooping on me thing. it is very nasty and happens 99% of the time that i hold him. also he squirms or strains so hard that stuff bulges out of his vent...wut is going on? how long will this continue? is it possible his hemi? if it is a he?
the pooping they do if they are scared. what might be coming out of his vent are his hemipenises. they will always erect this when they are doing a big poo. with every animal it takes time it can take a few weeks or a few months
It's just a new stress thing, my tegu who is very sweet does this, it's just because of the intial scare of handling, just insticts. Just be patient. And yeah your first thought, and what klik said, was right, that's probably what it is when he poos.
i have a three and a half footer who was a demon when he was little took a few months to calm him down and now hes just a little baby. getting a young sav to trust u is a long and hard thing to handle but will be worth it in the long run. remember though that we r still enemy number 1 to 99% of all animals and trust isnt a gimmee it takes a while to overcome thousands of years of instinct. patience is a virtue
