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Savannah Monitor

I have had a savannah monitor for about 3 months. I have started to notice that when he walks his legs shake and when he thrashes with his crickets or worms he tips over. He seems very weak and I'm not sure why. We keep his cage 60% humid and a basking spot of 100. He is only about 4-5 inches long. He has about 10 inches of eco earth in his cage because we were told to use that. Now prior to this the local pet store had new people working in the animal area and they sprayed window cleaner in the cricket container that same day. I was not informed until the crickets had made it home and he had eaten them. He was fine before that. I also dip whatever we happen to be feeding that day in a vitamin and calcium powder twice a week as informed. Please help me if you can. The nearest exotic vet is 5 hours away from where I live and I'm worried how the stress of taking him that for will effect him.
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187666 tn?1331173345
That does sound like a distinct connection between the sprayed crickets and his behavior. I don't see a need for washing the food if you know it's clean and natural to begin with. We order 50,000 mealworms at a time for work but we never think of washing them. It's good to have confidence in your food source.  If you're not sure, try to find another store.

Another thing - do you have any idea of the glass cleaner that was used? Then the vet would know what chemicals were involved and whether that's the source of his behavior.

Mostly it would be best to get him to the vet so he can be examined and treated. Poisoning takes one type of treatment and infection or illness is something else. Glad to hear his stools still look normal.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
We normally don't handle him much but I will remind the house to wash before putting their hands in the cage. My husband said that with in an hour of him eating the crickets he was acting funny. So would it be ok to wash the live food and whatever we feed him before we give it to him? I do know that the pet store cricket cage can be pretty dirty. He's drinking. His last stool was white....But we did feed him some silk worms. They are firm, not runny at all and don't really smell. They look normal.
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187666 tn?1331173345
Most contaminated food will make the animal sick very soon after eating. Something like lead poisoning takes longer because of the way it enters the body. Anyway, if it was the crickets, it would have affected him fairly soon. I wonder if he's picked up an infection. There's a lot of information out there about washing your hands after handling reptiles. But we also should wash our hands before handling them so they don't pick up e coli and other germs from us.

For now, keep him warm, make sure he's getting fluids. Reptiles can go for quite awhile without food but since he's not feeling good, at least watch that he doesn't become dehydrated as well. How are his poops?
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Avatar universal
We fed them to him about a week ago. They had had the crickets for 4 days and cleaned the cage with wondow cleaner and they had possible cleaned it on Tue. with a bleach solution. IDK. They weren't sure, the girl wouldn't answer and has since been let go. Well, that same day they had cleaned it with the window cleaner and sprayed it in there with them still inside. I bought them the same day but later in the afternoon. I had a friend that worked there and she called me and told me when she found out. I ran to the cage and took out the rest but he ate alot of them. I will wait for your reply but I will go ahead and take him on my day off Sat. or Tues. Whenever they have an opening. I have a pretty old truck so I have to plan for possible break down.
Helpful - 0
187666 tn?1331173345
It does sound like some kind of neurological problem but finding the cause is another story. You mentioned the possible cricket contamination but didn't say when he ate the crickets. I know the vet is quite far away but it sounds like that's the only sure way to find out if the monitor is poisoned or sick.
Helpful - 0

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