Loki my savannah monitor hasn't pooped in over a week now. He usually poops at least every other day during baths. He is still eating fine and active. Have checked temps and humidity. He seems to do wees ok. Any clues?
I know this may be difficult or almost impossible but have you seen him do a wee? If possible watch and see if he is straining to pass poop. Have you had a change in diet. Usually the baths help him a lot, any chance of him swallowing substrate. He may not be impacted just constipated a bit. Another thing have you had a major change in weather, we have a low pressure sat over us and it has changed the behaviour of my beardie, I think, pressure does have an effect on reptiles. Other than this I really dont know, sorry I cant be a bit more positive.
No change of diet, yeah seen him straining for a poop when he wee's. Even let him in the spare room which is his favourite illegal pooping place! Well has started getting warmer here in England so could be that. When I went on holiday and my friend was looking after him last summer he didn't poop for around a week and half so could just be weather come to think of it.
Where in the UK are you, I'm in Yorkshire. The low pressure we have is playing havoc with my reps. So could well be the weather change we have but keep a close eye on him, if he strains too much then a vet trip is advised.
my monitor goes about once a week (every 5-7 days), usually with in 24 hours of him eating his next meal. However this winter there were a few times he didn't go for over 2 weeks! I got scared too. I found some exercise and a warm bath helped. I supervised him around the living room and then 2 days in a row let him soak in a warm bath. He soon after went to the bathroom and I was relieved.
If his basking temps not hot enough it will take a long time to digest food because his bodies always just "ticking over". He may also seem relatively relaxed, docile and handleable kept like that due to being sort of "run down" all the time . Long term , this causes serious digestive/metabolic or immune problems that will cause slow horrible death 4 ur lizard ,thats not scaremongering , its been shown countless times on many reptile forums over the years that undermetabolised savs tend very rarely live past 5 years . You can easily check that out.(By the way i realise ur temps and humidity may be fine)! At the moment it seems many savs are living a lot longer at temps of - Cool end 75f , Warm end 90ish f and basking surface temps of 120f (young) or 130f+ (adults). A sav with basking temps high enough will generally poo the next day or 2 after feeding , a weeks a long time if its every time he does one ! A lot of people still argue these temps ,but you only have to look at the success some keepers are having with these lizards compared to what used to be.Theres been a lot of progress made in the last 7yrs or so. Just search old posts on the forums and u can see. A sav without a deep ,humid substrate to dig down into will dehydrate and pooh less .Urates ,the white stuff in its poo may come out hard and crumbly ,or the lizard may often sleep in its waterdish. A sav shouldn,t need to do that .They need humidity (not wetness tho) and high basking temps. Mostly if a sav HAS to be bathed to pooh its dehydrated and deyhydration has been shown time and again 2 be a big sav killer .(another slow lingering death , often from organ failure ). Happened to a beauty i owned 15 yrs ago when a LOT less was known about savs. His enclosure could also be too small ,they can be very reluctant to defecate where they eat and sleep and will keep trying to escape to "go". Again you may be taking good care( seen pics of your setup loki and it looks great ) but i hope this may be helpful to other keepers, Andy w
Cheers for comments Andy, he pooped this weekend whilst I was away working in London. I think it has something to do with the summer weather to be honest as he did same last year whilst I was on holiday (obviously he was being looked after). Strange thing was he was active, eating, drinking. Yeah understand what you mean about the bath, I think he has just always been that way. Since he was baby he would poop in water bowl. From what I've read it is quite common for this. As he got bigger baths were introduced for exercise and he always enjoys them and climbs out whenever he wants. Just got in from working up London and going to get the soil/sand for his new enclosure. Looking forward to seeing him happy in his new home! He has always pooped every other day or sometimes more to be honest! I think savs do tend to avoid pooping in their own territory. As he rarely poops in his tank anymore, usually spare room, front hallway or bath!
