Well I got a new one.

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Silvertears

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 21, 2009
532
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Somewhere lost
So I lost my Savannah monitor a while ago for unknown reasons. He was acting fine during the week I fed him crickets and he refused to eat so I just let it go. Then the next day I found him dead. I have been thinking the idea of getting another one over for quite some time and was never sure. Then I ended up getting one out of impulse after seeing this baby and I had to have him. An impulse buy but I already had what was needed for him for the time being. I do have bad phone pictures to hold you over for now. The setup is basic as I observe him to make sure he's healthy. I picked him up yesterday and already has had 5 small crickets so I don't need to worry about him starving. Attitude is intact as well. He was Hissing and opening his mouth to try and bite me through the glass when I was trying to take the pictures. The first one was on the way home in his box.
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SWEET wish i had room and $ for care
 
Having my 50gl breeder empty made me wish I had another one. So I had to get one again, just didn't expect it to be so soon. I know the 50gl is not big enough for an adult but the other was only ~14" when he passed and we were getting ready to build his next home. I can get insects cheap thankfully so it's not much of an issue for me with that. It's going to be rearanging my room to fit the adult cage that will be the issue. This is probably my last reptile for a while I won't have room for anything else when I get his adult cage built but I have a bit of a wait. He is only ~5" right now. It was funny when looking at him and seeing a 2' savannah.
 
If your sav grows like mine did, and it probably will, you'll need an adult enclosure of at least 4' x 8' x 4' within 6 months. Can't quite tell how you're keeping him now, but savs should never have less than 12" of substrate and will need around 2' when they're adults. Savs raised without enough substrate to create humid burrows in (think sand/soil/loam mix) tend to die suddenly at a young age. I know of someone with a couple hatchling savs in a 4' x 8' and they're doing just fine, so don't worry about placing him in too big of a home too early. Also, make sure you've got a nice hot basking spot, with surface temperatures between 130 and 150 F. Retes stacks are great for creating basking gradients, and a bank of 2-3 standard ~50 watt halogen floods (not spots) about 12" from the top of the retes should be adequate to create your basking spot.
 
^This.

You know, if something dies for unknown reasons it's usually best to find out what happened so you can fix it before getting another one..
 
Didn't intend to come off argumentative if that's the way you took it. Many lizards commonly available in the pet trade can benefit from appropriate substrate but don't require more than slate or paper to sit on. Many people try to keep savs like they are a common lizard. Unfortunately, savs are the exact opposite of the common lizard, they die on a typical slate/paper setup. It can break your back and your wallet to setup a sav, just trying to help silvertears out. It is far better to drop your money on one adult enclosure than 6 growouts that last less than a month or two each.
 
I have him in a basic set up he came from petco so I wanted to make sure he was healthy before putting him in a bigger tank with actually substrate. I need to fix the 50gl and he will go in that next week. Then we will build a bigger enclosure. I got the info I needed when I got the first one, so I do know everything you said. Right now I have a ceramic 75watt for him, a hide, and a big enough water dish to soak in. Also kinda hard to figure out what the problem was when my dad got rid of the one that died before anything could be done so there was nothing to check to find out what was wrong as the droppings were normal.
Oh and for future refrence I am a girl =]
 
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