Timor Monitor

Hi there,

I bought a timor monitor about a month ago and initially i had trouble getting him to eat. He didn't eat anything for the first two weeks that i had him and hes probably only had a few crickets since i've had him. I've also tried ground turkey with egg, pinkies, canned snails, wet dog food, and other pre packaged monitor diets. He has all the proper lighting, including UVB. His temperatures are right for his climate and i've covered all 4 walls of his cage to calm him down, but he almost never moves from his hiding spot. He has 2 hide spots on the hot and cold side of his cage and i've run out of ideas. Any suggestions as to what else i could do? It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
-Ruby

Hiya Ruby, welcome to the forum love :)

Do you know if he is captive bred or not? Could you tell us his age? And do you have an aboreal vivarium/cage for him to climb?

Just had to update your profile so you get our replies via mail :) Hope this is ok xxx

Haha that is absolutely okay and thank you.

The enclosure is 4x2x2. He is Wild Caught and about 15 inches and around two months old. The temps on the cool side are around 70 and his day side is around 84. His basking spot is around 115. And his humidity moves around 60-75. I've been putting ground turkey with egg in his cage every day for the past few days but it doesn't look like he's eaten any of it and he looks a little thinner, but he did come out of his hide spot for a little and sat in his basking spot after running into a few walls and trying to climb them to escape.

Hi Ruby
Im not a pro on monitors, but from what ive experienced with regards to wild caught animals, they will not eat anything besides what they are used to, which means try getting more live food and food that occurs naturally in their enviroment. What do you have as a substrate? remember if you remove an animal from its enviroment, and introduce it to a foreign and artificaial one, it stresses the animal and could lead to a non eater etc.
Everything of the best!
And welcome!

Sorry Ruby please forgive my stupidity, 4x2x2, is that inches or metres? Im not tghe brightest with measurements etc.

I think you should increase the temps a little to Basking area- 130-145 degrees F
ambient temp- 80-89 degrees F, Night- 75-80 degrees F.
As Bogga says you should try to mimick his diet in the wild. Try feeding him crickets, roaches, mealworms etc. daily and the occasional mouse or chick.
Not sure what substrate your using but soil is ideal as they love to dig. :)

Hi Ruby..good luck with your monitor

Haha that's okay Bogga, it's actually feet. And i have tried crickets pinkies and mealworms and i have also tried raising temperatures, but none of that seems to work :/

Oh and the substrate is compressed coconut fiber but he doesn't burrow in it.

Thanks Ruby

All thats been tried, so the next step, thats a small lizard in a big cage, try a smaller enclosure? I know with some snakes this is often the case, and I imagine the same principle will apply to lizards. With most wild caught animals its best to mimick the enviroment, check with Denise or do a search on where these animals occur naturally then try and get similar soil that is found in that area.
Hope it starts eating soon!

Alright i'll try that out and see how it goes. If things change i'll let you know.
Thanks :]