Scarface and I

Discussion in 'Monitors & Tegus' started by SavBoy, May 25, 2011.

  1. SavBoy

    SavBoy Embryo

    Messages:
    4
    Hello my name is phillip, from iowa, got a 3 yrs old sav named scarface. He's. @ 3' even and a lil over weight. Been on a diet for about 2-3 months and lost 0.88 lbs for far. Gets vet check ups. Last one right after the diet started. Everythings good. He can climb, swim, walk off his belly, good jaw strenght. Vet had a hard time getting his mouth open to check his gums/teeth. Never had impactions, loss of appetite, lethargy, but did have a severe drying of his skin while he was being watched and recently had thermal burns caused by slightly low ambient temps and basking spot was to small causing him to sit under the lights to long. Vet trip got me xenodine and silver sulfate-a-something cream. No infection was present. I feed everyday with a diet of brown wing deaths head roachs (hybrid), crawfish/crawdads, whole uncooked shrimp, freshwater aquarium snails, earth worms, occasional rat pinky or fuzzy (only keep enough for my BP's), some times order goliath/horn worms, and sometimes a mouse or two (if BP's don't eat it/them). I only feed whole prey items and focus in inverts. I treat with repti-vite once a week-10 days. I dust roaches. Varies 3-6 of em. Tank temps 80 cool side 90 hotside with a basking surface temp of 130 measured with IR gun. Lighting/heating provided by halogen flood lamps. Humidity 60% kept up with a fogger when needed. Tanks to small got him in a 4' hex tank. Had a mix of coco coir/douglas fir bark/top soil (I dug up) but he is on butcher paper till his back heals. Building a 4 x 8 enclosure.

    Got him as a rescue not knowing anything except he needed a heat light. What a long road it been! Been playing catch up with tanks since I got him. I believe in the invert diet but won't bash unless a diet is all rodents based soley on a varied diet is needed. Read the debates on the stomach contents findings vs what could have been eaten and go with stomach contents. From personal experience and the other forum I'm on impactions seem to be caused by slight dehydration as opposed to the hair and mass of the waste. My savs ate bark chunks and passed them and dropped loads the size of small dogs when I used rodents before I started my roach colony and noticed he got fat. Lately I've been reading up on different experiments done looking at digestion, their heart, breathing, excersice capacity, blood effects of eating (alkaline tide), food processing (chewing). I don't understand or know a lot of the words they use so it leads to lots of time on google. I like smaller forums and seen the monitor section was pretty dead so I figured I would join and share the little I know. I'm not expert as I only have 3 years experience but I know what has worked for me and research where they came from and have an experienced mentor on the other forum. Over 15 yrs experience, breeds ackies and keeps multiple monitors. Not really mentor more drill sergeant but he's helped me step up my care a lot.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    3,899
    Wow, it definitely looks like you are doing the right thing for Scarface! do you have plans on how to make the enclosure yet? When I had built a large cage for my beardie (about 4 years ago) I had come across an awesome how-to for larger enclosures... I'll look around and see if it's still up on a website somewhere...
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. reptileden0

    reptileden0 New Member

    Messages:
    33
    Savs are fun creatures.We have expierimented in many substrates. Your humidity should be 60-75%. It helps with alot of things. How often do you handle yours and how does he respond? I also have running "expieriments" with savs and their health and temperment. I have done and accomplished what was said couldnt be. Glad to see you are so pumped to learn about yours!
     

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