help! baby nile refuses food

Yeah that's been fixed for a while now... with plexiglass. I keep reading care sheets and getting mixed messages about how hot things should be ... same problem with my savannah (some sites say keep it high and some say low) I have a few more powerful bulbs on the way...had to order them, but they should increase the temp. I would have never thought carrot lol thanks

 

sorry it took me so long to finally get some pics but here is some of the outside and some close ups of the inside... We are truly beginners at building or fixing enclosures so hopefully nobody thinks we did too badly... tried to make a hide box out of wood last month and failed miserably so I really think this turned out great

 

If that unit is home made, then it's very impressive.
Well Done

 

yea home made... not entirely by us... but we basically had to take it apart and put it back together with a few changes...

so we put in a different bulb and the hot side is now at 120 and the cool side is about 85 now

What do you think are the best temps for night time?

 

Hi,
Just been looking at several caresheets on web, getting a lot of different answers as usual.
Ranging from....room temperature... mid 70's.... 78/80F.
May be crocdoc will have better answer for you.

 

That enclosure is a vast improvement on what was being described earlier. Congrats on that.

Is the 120F surface temperature on the basking spot? If you don't own one, buy a non-contact temperature gun, they're a necessity when keeping monitors for being able to take surface temperatures. Although there is a lot of conflicting information out there on temperatures, the best thing you can do is to give it a hot basking spot (~110-120F) a cooler ‘cool’ end (~75-80F) and let the monitor choose where it wants to be, when it wants to be. With a gradient like that, it has a choice. They’ve been doing this for millions of years, we haven’t, so they’ll know better. Night time temperatures can be around 75-80F. As you have two light fittings, what you may want to do is make one the basking light and the other just an ambient heat emitter (this seems to be how you've got it set up anyway, judging by the photos). What I do with my hatchling monitors is similar. The basking light is on a timer so that it's on only during the day, the ambient heat source is on 24/7 but with a thermostat control.

Aside from getting the temperature tweaked (if necessary), the only changes I would make to that enclosure would be to use flat or slightly curved bits of wood on the substrate, rather than rocks, for the monitor to crawl under (thick pieces of bark are great for this). Rocks on substrate with a tiny monitor are usually an accident waiting to happen. The more pieces of cover the better, so the monitor can get from one end to the other without exposing itself too much - they love security. The hide box with the hole in it which you have provided will be used if there's nothing else available, but baby monitors feel much more secure with tighter hide spots they have to squeeze into or under.
Since the enclosure doesn't have much of a litter dam, try to build up the depth of the substrate toward the back, away from the front (if it’s front opening), or all over (if it’s top opening) and make sure it’s humid beneath the surface. Baby monitors will dig down into it to sleep if they feel they’re losing too much hydration at the surface.

 

Yeah we do have our lights set up with the basking light on a timer so that it's on only during the day, the other light is kept dim (kind of like moonlight) and its on only at night...it was too hot in there with that light and the basking light... I will definitely look into getting one of those temperature guns... I took a marine bio course a few years ago and we had to use them a lot, don't know why I didn't think about it before!
But for now i stuck a thermometer on top of the rocks under the lights and it said 120...but the thermometer only goes up that high! i figure since the air around it is only 115 it must not be too far off from 120, but either way I need to get better thermometers apparently lol

What do you think is the best way to make it humid beneath the surface? There are tiles covering the floor to keep moisture off the wood so should i mist it? Do you think I would have any issues with mold? Do you think I should throw in some moist Sphagnum moss?

I will see what kind of large pieces of bark I can find...i can definitely understand the dangers of rocks, I was always afraid my Savannah was going to get himself smushed!

Thanks again for advising me

 

Another option aside from what Crocdoc mentioned would be to get a plastic storage bin about half the length of the cage and 10 inches deep or so, fill it with sandy dirt or coco bricks mixed with sand, get it nice and moist, fill the container and put it in the cage.

 

That sounds like a great idea actually... a lot easier to maintain a clean container full then a whole tank full... I'm not sure what coco bricks are... but I'm sure i could get some sandy dirt
Im thinking something like the plastic planter liners they sell for window flowers? they are long and rectangular with a decent depth...
Thanks

 

We started feeding him in a small tank with crickets (We didn't want him to accidentally get a mouth full of his bedding!) and he loves it...goes crazy trying to get them all!
He's eating really good now! I'd say at least 6 or 7 large crickets a day... because we usually by a dozen for him everyday and he doesn't quite eat all of them...but whatever he doesn't want our sav. will happily eat!
Oh yeah, he bit Jim for the first time yesterday when he went to transfer him to the tank to eat! At least he's tiny and cant cause any major harm yet...

 

You're better off feeding it in the enclosure. I wouldn't worry about it eating some bedding as long as it has access to a hot basking spot. It'll pass through.
The downside to moving it to feed is that you'll be handling it too often for it to become less frightened of you. That biting is cute now, will not be cute when it's big.

 

Thanks for the advice ... now my only issue is cricket proofing the enclosure...they always manage to escape! Also they can climb up the walls and out of the little guys reach

 

Here are some pics of Jeffree and crickets


not the best quality ...but you get the point

 

I miss this little guy so much i can wait to come and see him on saturday its hard to beleive how big hes gonna get

 

I know its been a while but i wanted to put an update... he finally ate a mouse! After offering him countless pinkies I tried a fuzzy and he finally went after it. I was soo excited...wouldn't eat it while I was around but he did eat it, its not in the tank and he's looking pretty plump! he's grown about 6" since I first posted and now that he is finally eating bigger prey I'm sure he will be growing even faster!

 

Hi,

sidbarvin and jflizi1458

This is not a cage for nile monitors.Nile Monitors need bigger cages.So must look a good cage for monitors

 

A baby nile does not need a huge viv!! A baby nile would be pretty stressed out in a huge viv!! This baby nile will have a very nice and adequate size viv as he grows into an adult. As of right now the tank is quite large for him. about 4x his length and thats tip of nose to tail...his body is only about 5" long! I will move him into something larger when he is ready.

 

Hi,

Yes,but you must give earth and plants and a cave in the cage

 

The only thing he DOESN'T have is live plants, but there are plenty of places for him to hide and a large container in his enclosure full of moist dirt.

 

monitors need bigger cages as they grow. You should start out with smaller cages as to make sure they truly are getting enough to eat. Babies can get really stressed when it comes to feeding in a big cage. They may have difficulty finding and catching live food when the food has so much room to move and so many hiding places.