Spencers Monitor Eating Problems

[snakelady96]

Hi all, i have recently bought a spencers monitor but i never see him eat.. When i first got him i put him in a tub till i set up his enclosure properly which only took me a day. I put about 5 meal worms in there as he is only a baby (4 months old) and he ate 2 out of 5. I thought he was just in a bit of shock from the flights. His new enclosure is 5ft by 2ft by 2ft and i have got a largish sized heat mat that takes up almost half the enclosure and its on about 32-35 degrees, i know it should be hotter but he is only a baby and i dont want to burn him :/ Basically my question: I dont think he is eating too much and im just getting a bit worried, he always has food, hes got dusted crickets-medium and small sized, diced meat and ive half filled a cat litter tray with water, sand and feeder fish if he wants to eat fish.. I know, weird.

His substarte is half sand half bark chippings and he has just a basic grass plant in a pot. I have heard boiled egg is good for them but im not sure if hes too young to try it... Any tips on how i can get him eating better or some foods i havent mentioned?
Oh also is the basic dragon food ok for them to eat? Like the one you get in the containers from pet stores?

Thanks!

 

[ingie]

I have a baby Spencers and had to do a few things to get his enclosure just right and him eating boldly, hopefully I can help you. I tend to ramble though lol.

If he isn't hot enough he won't eat because he knows he won't be able to digest it properly. Also, if he is eating but is not hot enough, they can get nasty digestion problems as well as develop metabolic bone disease.

A heat matt is NOT enough for heating - they need to be stimulated by light heat from above as it is their natural behaviour to bask and be warmed from above. You will need to get a light fitting, a heat globe, some tiles, a terracotta pot plant base or a bessa block, and a probe thermometer.

You want the enclosure to have a cool end that is room temperature, and a warm end of somewhere in the 30's. That should be easy in a 5 ft enclosure. Then you want to hang your light fitting over a tile that has a hide on it. A teracotta type hide that is only a few cm's tall, like the pot plant bases at Bunnings, would be ideal (as they feel comfortable when they can squeeze into a secure spot rather than sit in a big cave), or just put in a grey bessa block that has the narrow gaps in it. Use the probe thermometer to measure the temperature just on top of and under the hide, and move the globe closer/further or increase/decrease the wattage until the temperatures reaches between 55 and 65 degrees above and under the hide. Make sure you don't try to guess temperatures with your hand because the temperature your Spencer's will love/need, will feel way too hot for you. Don't feel like you are going to burn your baby. If it was too hot he wouldn't go there, but I guarantee he will go there all the time because that is what they need to stay healthy.

Baby Spencers are incredibly shy and secretive (until they learn to trust you). They need HEAPS of hides and want to be able to move all around their enclosure without being seen by a big pair of scary predator eyes (you). It is especially important to have hiding spots on the basking spot because they won't bask if they feel too exposed or in danger. I put the food bowl in a spot out of view from the front of enclosure, so if he was eating as I walked past he would feel comfortable to continue instead of running away to hide. My baby now runs to the front when he sees me, waiting to be fed woodies and tiny rodents off tongs. He also lets me stroke his back while he basks (for my own pleasure not his lol). He trusts me because I never grab at him or pull him out from his safe hiding places. Be patient and yours will learn to trust you too

Baby spencers are insect and whole animal eaters. Prepared pellets are not going to interest it at all, and if it did eat them, still don't rely on them as a staple. You want to feed them as many nutritious insects as possible (woodies are the best), with regular feeding of WHOLE rodents that they can swallow whole or that you chop up and they eat all the pieces. Don't mess around with mince and certain cuts of meat like beef liver etc because there is too much protein and fat, without all the calcium from the skeleton and goodness from the organs and stomach content. It is more nutritious to feed it a 1.5 week old mouse with bones and hair, than a pinky rat the same size, that is basically just a sack of jelly. Eggs are a sometimes treat, not a staple (too high in protein and fat). As a treat I give mine a tiny quail egg in it's bowl, just cracked open.

 

[Robo1]

ingie's advice is spot on

You need to give your monitor a hot basking spot (55-65°C). Note that this is not an air temperature, which is why you'll need a probe thermometer. You may also want to have a look at this thread to get some ideas.

 

[snakelady96]

Thank you ingie! That was very detailed, do you mind posting up some pics of your spencers enclosure to give me some ideas to upgrade mine? Im gonna get to it today, are the light bulbs easy to fit on your own? I always have had a mate come around and do it for me and i just pay him, i've never tried to fir them myself...

 

[SamNabz]

Hey snakelady96,

It doesn't seem like you have done any research what so ever on how to care for this monitor.

Firstly, that temperature is way too low for a monitor of any sort and is the reason it is not eating. Even though it is "only a baby", they still require much higher temperatures.

Go out and buy a proper light fitting and heat globe that will get you temps between 60c and 70c immediately - he will not burn. It may be hot to you, but it is perfect for them.

Remove the bark chips, stick to sand for now. Take the fish out (who told you to do this..?) as well as the cat litter tray full of water as it could potentially drown.

Also, only feed it insects (crickets, mealworms, woodies etc) -- NO boiled eggs, diced meat or dragon food!

 

[snakelady96]

Hey SamNabz,

Yes i will be buying some globes today, definitely. Ans also some more sand and im gonna get rid of those bark chippings also.
A mate who owns them told me thats how he has his set up with the fish, so i thought it was ok but now you mention that im getting rid of it!

Thanks for the feeding info too.

 

[nagini-baby]

i cant see why it couldnt eat diced meat occasionally, my adult eats roo meat, chicken necks, baby chicks, mice, rat pups, wont look at bugs. i have mine on tea tree mulch and its doing great.

 

[SamNabz]

i cant see why it couldnt eat diced meat occasionally, my adult

Keyword bolded and in red nagini - yours is an adult; the OP's V.spenceri is still very young/small.

Besides, it's better to feed whole food items (e.g. rat pups) instead of diced meats/chicken.

 

[ingie]

You are welcome snake lady Occasionally diced meat is ok, but in the wild they eat the whole thing and in doing so they get a lot more of their dietary needs met. If you rely too heavily on the protein rich parts of the food animals it can lead to gout and other health problems. I purchased an old Spencer's (felt sorry for it) that was fed mainly on meat and beef heart- it has gout and is very small. I will post a pic of my enclosures when i finish down here with the rats lol. It is only small and temporary compared to yours though the big one is going outside in a few weeks.

 

[snakelady96]

Thanks for that, I put a pinkie rat in the enclosure and he ate it!! I'm gonna go get those globes and tiles and maybe go out bush and get some logs. Also I'm just using the washed kids play sand from home hardware for the substrate is that ok?

 

[Robo1]

Also I'm just using the washed kids play sand from home hardware for the substrate is that ok?

Yep, that's what most people (including myself) use.

 

[ingie]

This is what my Spencer's basking spot looks like. I piled up those bessa blocks so they were close enough to the globe for the basking spot to be the perfect temperature. If the baby wants to bask in private he goes in the gap and put his tail in the entrance so I can't see him.

If you can't make a safe stack close enough to the globe, you can try buying a ceramic light fitting with it's own cord from a reptile shop, drill a hole in the roof of enclosure, and hang it so the globe is closer to the basking spot.

This is my adult Spencer's basking spot. She sits on top until I walk in, and then she goes underneath where I can't see her. As I said, I am going to put her outside in a few weeks so she can have natural sunlight and multiple basking spots. This was originally an olive python enclosure and isn't really suitable for a large monitor.