Savannah monitor *update* at vets for a week long care program

Anyone who has expert experience with savannah monitors please help. We recently got a baby sav because we love our older one and he has been doing amazing until yesterday. He is about 6-8inches long in a 3x2x2 enclosure cool side 75-80 hot side 85-90 basking spot 105. Eco- earth layer 4 hides and a climbing branch and water lagoon. Gets calcium dusted crickets once a week Long with UVB. Yesterday afternoon we noticed he had not come out of his log burrow yet which is very unusual after removing the log he appeared to be trapped in a burrow gently rubed his back and nothin. I scooped hand under and pulled him out one eye was closed couldn't move legs and belly and back distended throat was enlarged. Fearing impaction immediately put in warm water and massaged his belly he slowly opened both eyes and tied drinking but looked like he was struggling to swallow. He has made it thru the night and have been massaging and soaking every other hour. He is still very lathargic but can now open eyes move his head on his own and hiss. Has also tried drinking a little more each time. Still can not move any legs front ones appear to hurt when you try to correct them. He is laying on his belly with all four legs pointing towards tail. Please please help. Only vet in area thy sees reps is not in the office today.

Dehydration is bad in savannahs, so are parasites.  Check his pop and make sure there is nothing in it, it's the down side to wild caught animals.  As for dehydration it's been said for a savannah to drink is rare, my buddy Wayne Harvey who has been in reptile mag with his is doing a experiment that with the right humidity they don't need drinking water.....

So lets start there, switch your bedding to a sand soil mix about 50/50%, make it about a foot deep to allow them to burrow, or what you can do is place a 6qt tub at the bottom and make a tunnel to and from it, just allows a cool place with high humidity.  Continue to allow them to soak in a large tub and drink water if they will, I offer mine 2 dishes one for soaking one smaller one for drinking. 

Temps-  Your temps are to low,cool side should be around 85-90, and your basking temps should be around 135, either you will need a larger bulb, or to raise the substrate so he basking area is closer, use a large flat rock or a brick.  

Food- Always offer a baby sav food everyday, You have to remember that male savannahs grow to about 3 foot the first year, so they burn threw alot of food.  Females don;t grow as fast only to about 20 inches the first year but during their second year they take off.  and because of how fast they grow their bones can get weak from it.  My male is 14 months old and 38 inches long.  offer whole food items, not chicken guts, no foods with MSG, no hot-pockets, bologna, or hot dogs either.  Crickets, pinks, dubia, earthworms, eggs, fresh shrimp.

remember when adults they need a 8x4x4 with 2 foot of soil, cool side around 90, basking around 130, and humidity will need to be around 80%....I'm waiting for my vet friend to contact me back i'll try and get a answer from her on what could be wron but there are a few places o start..BEST OF LUCK KEEP ME UPDATED PLEASE.... I'll also post wayne harveys care sheet

He can't burrow because he can't move his legs and can't check poop as he is impacted. Also his climbing branch runs to the light which if he chosen to when he could climb the temp there is correct. Also he was CB by a friend who has never had this happen to any of his 6 savs

what is your friends name?  and as for being impacted just keep fluids in him, but honestly he shouldn't get compacted on eco earth, their stomach acid is like 10 times that of a humans, normally large amounts and sand and rocks impact savs

jus got ahold of my Friedn Sarah Hagen...you migh know here as the TeguGurl on youtube....she runs a tegu rescue and personally owns a sav.  She said she has never heard of their limbs going limb from impaction, neither have I.  She said sounds like it migh have fell from somethin in the vib, or there is something stuck in it's throat, she said hold it down and gently open it's mouth they are monitors you should be able to see most the way down, make sure there isn't a wood chip stuck side ways in it or anything

I am not sure what this is, he can't be that old or perhaps I would say gout which is pretty common with dehydration and the food source. Crickets one time a week is not enough, he needs a variety of things and more frequently. To me, it sounds like dehydration but I am not an expert. If you can get your hands on some saline, lactated ringers solution or normosol and a syringe I would try to give fluids subcutaneously in the flanks but be careful.

Only the climbing branch to call from and found him in his burrow. Some dirt came out of his vent while massaging his belly but not enough to be the cause. Also gave some reptaboost and water thru  a syringe and didn't notice any blockage in the throat. Keeping both eyes closed now and the bloating feels more like air than impaction as it is also on his back and sides not just underbelly. His head is responsive to touch but can barely support itself. Still not able to use legs. He showed some signs of improvement but things are looking grim. Our older sav never did anything even remotely similar to this and it seemed to happen over night. Thank you all for your tips and helpful ideas. I will keep with the soaks and massaging but I am preparing for the worst case scenario

Not sure why everyone thinks he's only eating once a week. He was eating gut loaded crickets every day and raw chicken pieces or turkey once a week. Also had a soak jacuzzi and a separate  drinking bowel and drank from it frequently

Your original post says calcium dusted crickets once a week???

Meaning they only got dusted with calcium and multi vitamin powders once a week as he also has a UVB. Should have specified

It's hard to tell what can be the cause, have you dewormed him? I know you got him from a friend, but he could have still contracted a parasite from other animals, bedding, water (the latter are not common, but you never know).

It's cool about the feeding, it appeared as though he was eating once a week. Was he defecating normally (no abnormally runny stool or hard stool)?

Seemed to be normal poop and every day all seemed to be same consistency and size no deworming but the same bedding he has is also in Leachie,crested,gargoyle, and Gtp tanks I have regular top soil/sand in our adult savs as he does not get fed in his enclosure and our tree monitor is on op soil but everything else is on Eco earth except the beardies and leopards. He seems to be going down hill and not positive he will make it thru the night. Very upsetting as he is beautifull and has an amazing temperament. Even tho he's a small guy this is going to be a huge loss to our herp family

It does sound like gout from the joints and the bloating but I don't know how as he drinks frequently and has humid hides. I am hoping he makes it to tomorrow to get some vet attention

Yeah, I know the feeling.  Sorry I was no real help, unfortunately in my experiences it happens so quickly it's hard to get them through it. All you can do is try to keep him warm and hydrated, be hopeful he'll pull through

I believe gout can be treated, but he most likely will always have it. He seems young to have gout, but that was the first thing that came to mind because of the joints and swelling, I hope he makes it til tomorrow!!!

Ya after you said it I read about it and almost fits to the letter it happened soon can't hardly even move his legs. Will continue with the water syringe and hope he can make it to tomorrow and get some meds

I need you response to be fast......now that i see the feeding habbits i might know the issue....I went threw it with Bosco.....When was the last time he ate chicken or turkey raw?

call me if it helps make this go faster i hate seeing Sick savs.....513-488-5893

When you say he looks bloated does it look anything like this?  

No the bloating is symmetrically round all around his body and feels like air almost. He made it thru the night and his head is still very responsive. Have given him more water and am waiting for the vet to open at here in a little bit to get him looked out and see if she also thinks it gout and get him on antibiotics hopefully in time to recover the use of his legs

Also Last time he had raw chicken was last Thursday

please keep us updated. Hope the vet is able to help you

Got off phone with vet in fairfax who thinks it could be about 3 things all wich need antibiotics and an anti gas thing but said it sounded like a good chance even with that he might not make it. He was willing to call in the prescription to our herp vet here to get injections tomorrow only to call and find out she refuses to treat savs or sugar gliders so have to run to fairfax today or find someone local

wtf...why refuse those two animals?

Hudsreps wrote:

Got off phone with vet in fairfax who thinks it could be about 3 things all wich need antibiotics and an anti gas thing but said it sounded like a good chance even with that he might not make it. He was willing to call in the prescription to our herp vet here to get injections tomorrow only to call and find out she refuses to treat savs or sugar gliders so have to run to fairfax today or find someone local

If it was SEAVS then go.  I was there last week with my BP - 90 minute trip for me - and it was worth it.  They are awesome with herps.

That's stupid, you can check with the vet here at the Charlottesville veterinary clinic, Dr. Raab. She claims to have knowledge of savvys and may be of more help, I not know if that's closer to you than fairfax

Not sure it's on rust rd. our vet here has two herps a man and woman the mans in fairfax for the week and the woman won't see savs. The guy were seeing I had a phone consult with and he seemed very knowledgable on savs so we are getting ready to drive up there now and hope for the best

In Fredericksburg so a bit further I wouldn't mind drive time but to transport him while he's already barely holdin on I was wanting to avoid. Incredibly angry at dr.juroo who wot see him as he's only about 7 inches and can't open his mouth on his own so poses less threat than a gerbil to her

It is the sevas place in fairfax they were waiting for us as we came through the door

awesome! really hope he/she makes it

Thank. We are leaving him there for one week. Will get broad spectrum antibiotics as well as vitamin a b d e stuff and calcium shots and anti gas stuff and concentrated protein carnivore paste of some sort to try and get him back to his old self. He said it could go either way but they'd do all they could. I was very impressed with there facility and with his knowledge well worth the drive for anything that comes up in the future regardless of how the sav does 
He didn't seem to think it had to do with husbandry or feeding showed him pics of enclosure and bedding hides etc and we get our crickets from lll reptile

like i said before just keep us updated...we r all hopin for the best

That's great, what did they think is going on with him?

He wasn't a 100% sure said it could be faux gout where it looks identical but can come on fast and presents similar. He didn't want to so blood work said it would be unescessary stress on him and to see how he does with the force feeding and boosted calcium and vitamin intakes over the next few days said we could call anytime to check in and he would call when he could with updates

Awesome, I'm glad you and the doc are giving him a chance

Thanks everyone for the help/tips/support. He has been at the vets for about a week now and the dr. Said they have noticed he is gulping air wich is what has caused the distending of his gastric Tract he is not sure why he is doing it tho. Also no leg movement or feeling in back legs but no spinal injuries found after x ray. He is on pain meds and force feeding at this point and has not made any improvements. After talking with him this afternoon he feels the best thing to do is put him down as he feels the sav will never recover any use of its back legs or be able to feed on its own and will remain bloated. We reluctantly agreed and he is being put down this evening. After so much time money and wishful thinking we has hoped he would have at least shown some sort of improvement. The only good thing that has come from all this is finding a good vet for all the other scalies. Baby batman is going to be severely missed tho

Sorry to read this.  It is very sad.  Reptiles go down hill quickly once they start showing symptoms.  RIP Baby Batman.

Sorry to hear that he couldn't recover. I was hoping for the best, but you did the right thing, it wouldn't be fair to him to have to live in pain. I'm sure he had a great life although short, may he rest in peace...

sorry...sad to hear.

condolences. sad to hear he didn't make it, but at least you did all you could.

Sorry for the lose man happened to one of mine to

sorry to hear that

Just another update the vet clinic sent a small rubber heart with his claw prints and name in it. Was above and beyond what we expected

  srry

That was very sweet of them, most places don't think to do stuff like that.

They definitely don't. Shows that they care about the pet and the owners. Very commendable and human of them!