Today I came into possession of a very neglected juvenile Sav.... went to a local pet store I had never been to before because I heard it was closing down. I've always heard bad things about this place so I've avoided it but since theyre closing I decided to see if they had any enclosures or supplies on sale.
Well.... needless to say they did... but they also had a store with straggler animals that hadnt sold and they needed to get rid of. This was probably the WORST store I have ever seen when it comes to animal welfare and no wonder they were only open for ~8-12 months. (If anyone wants to know the name of the store, let me know. I've already been putting them on blast)
It was like they wanted to cut their power bill by keeping the stores lights on but NOT any lights on the animals. Not a single reptile in there had any UVB or heating at all. It was all shut off. Most enclosures didnt have water bowls or even hides, just a glass box with some dirt and nothing else. Granted the store hardly had any animals left (mostly green iguanas, a couple leopard geckos, cresties, ball pythons, etc). I still wanted to look through the animals and get pics to show to animal control when I stumbled across this poor guy. Honestly when I first saw him curled up in the back of the enclosure I genuinely thought he was already dead.
I asked if I could see him out and see his temperament, when the worker gave him to me it felt like he had come out of a literal freezer and wasnt even responsive, sunken in eyes, stuck shed, the whole deal. I immediately asked how much they wanted for him because I adore monitors and just reptiles in general and even if I could get one animal out of here to not die in this store that already smelled like death, I would. They tried to charge me $150 and that was WITH a "store closing discount". I said absolutely not and listed all the things wrong with his care and how unhealthy and overall awful he looks, then magically the price was lowered to $30. I said whatever, I actually have monitor experience and own another monitor anyways (Nile), and just genuinely felt horrible for how awful and miserable he looked.
Well... while I was in the middle of checking out, someone brought a critter keeper out from the back that had what looked like a dead leopard gecko in it. They poked at it for a few minutes and it barely moved, the lady checking me out put a "free to good home" note on it and I immediately said ill take him too. Geckos really arent even my thing (I keep mostly monitors, skinks, and colubrids) but if I can help them get healthy again ill gladly care for them until I can find someone who truly wants them and will give them a good forever home. I get in the car with my half dead monitor and leopard gecko when I realize.... there's a fucking SECOND gecko in there too. The store didnt mention them being housed together so I dont even think they knew about it.
Now everyone is home in quarantine enclosures (because I would NOT be surprised if they had parasites, upper respiratory, etc.) And settling in. I've worked with Savannah monitors before as well as other species of monitor, I've also owned my Nile for 8-9 months. I've done my research on Savs so im confident caring for him, but I wanted to know if anyone had any Sav specific tips or tricks? Most of the ones ive worked with have been owned by friends or have been surrenders to rehome, so it hasn't been a super long term thing. So far his temperament is very calm but ofc he's cold, stressed, and unhealthy so I expect him to get some attitude (my Nile and Monkey tailed skinks have some so im more than used to it). But any Sav tips would be greatly appreciated!
Also if you have guesses on the pet store or just want to know ill gladly give out the name... the whole place smells like death and I wish I was able to take ALL their animals out of there but unfortunately theyre trying to charge insane amounts even with their "sales".
