i was in one of those pet stores in the mall and one of the guys was telling me savs are like garbage disposals. he was telling he was giving his sav meat that was going bad and he was going to throw away like hotdogs, ham, and so on. he even said that he was feeding it the fat from pork chops and steaks....now is that true savs are like that and is that even healthy for them....i cant see how it is?
from what I can tell that kind of attitude WOULD be okay if you were only giving it healthy stuff turkey, beef and things like that but not hot dogs or chunks of fat. I think if youre going to be giving things to you sav from your own food dont give it things you wouldnt eat, and dont give hot dogs or processed meat. thats just my opinion.
I agree, I've heard of people feeding their savs stuff like turtle chicken beef and pork but not processed meat.
I dont really see a need to experiment with weird food items when a proven diet of insects and rodents is readily available. Certainly not hot dogs!
i know experimenting my sav is not the best idea and i would never do that, but i cant see how someone that works at a pet store in the reptile department can give advise like this. but at the sametime i feel she's needs more of a selection of food other then mice and hard boiled eggs.
I woudln't feed mine anything that had been frozen, thawed and then refrozen...or well...basically anything that I wouldn't eat myself. I feed mine: mice, crickets, super worms, night crawlers, and a dog food called Natures Variety. It's a meat diet (you can choose from beef, duck, chicken, turkey..ect) and it is grain free. It's actually meat. Not canned, not dried...it's frozen meat patties. My savanna is doing wonderful on this combination of foods. p.s.- I did eat a cricket once to get this really cool pin from flukers...but I wouldn't actually eat the other bugs...but you get when I mean.
I agree with everyone here do not feed them hotdogs or any fatty foods. Savs already have a hard time dealing with weight issues why add to them with fatty foods. In general I would avoid beef, pork, and duck as they can be high in fat. I do not feed mine cat food (not that there is anything wrong with it I just don't). I feed mine a simple diet of around 6-14 kinds of cockroaches depending on the size of the monitor, mice, rats, quail, chicks(well if i could get them readily), snails (I wish I had some GALS), crickets, superworms, etc... All and all a simple diet. I find as the animals get larger that they start to ignore smaller prey items such as crickets and other small insects.
i dont think processed food would do them any serious harm on occasion but i wouldnt feed mine anything like that alot of salt and other preservitives cant be good for them in the long term
If properly housed with the right temps, humidity, room to burrow and I'm talking really burrow so at least 24" of substrate they won't have a hard time staying fit as long as you feed them whole food items (roaches, nightcrawlers, mice, rats etc. .) I would steer clear of boiled eggs as many Sav's can get attached to them too much, and eat less of the good stuff. I had issues in the past on monitors with eggs, so that's from experience.
Processed foods, foods with preservatives and chemicals added "to retain appearance" (colour enhancers, phosphates, etc.) are very stressful on the kidneys and liver. Compounded by the fact that 99 percent of all Varanids are housed incorrectly (compromising these organs already) I would be very strict about avoiding anything that is processed, including (but not limited to) canned dog food / canned cat food, and frozen meats from the grocery store. If you are going to own a monitor, you simply must be prepared to have your freezer well stocked with rodents & chicks as well as have a breeding colony of large roaches. Correct Savannah Monitor Care Phosphates in food!
