Savanna Monitor Q about growing ((..PIX..))

I have my savanna in a 45 gal. tank now and feed him pinkies and crickets. He's about a foot long right now at 9 months old. However, I'm wondering how much I should be feeding him and how big I should expect him to be by 1 year, 1 1/2 years, 2 years...ext. I'm convinced he'll eat until he explodes. So he's a very good eater, he'll take more if I gave him. He usually gets 3-4 pinkies a week and 3-4 crickets on the day's inbetween. I just wanna know If he's on the right tract for growing and am I feeding him enough? I feel like It's a lot that I feed him, who knows...maybe not enough. I don't think he's overweight, but I'm still curious. He's grown about 6 inches since I bought him.

 

Take the rodents out of its diet and stick to the bug only diet. Your monitor is gorging itself. In the wild, monitors dont know when the next meal is so they eat as much as they can at the moment they receive it. They only need to eat 2-3 times a week to thrive and they dont need to eat much during each serving.

 

on an insect only diet before he wasn't growing. most of his growth has happened with the addition of rodents

 

No you cant take the rodents out of its diet!!!
Thats the staple in the diet!Hes not in the wild hes in Captivity!
I have a sav and hes around a year old and hes 22 inches long.
I feed mine 6 large hoppers aweek and around 200 superworms a week.He would still eat more if he could.I would reccomend feeding 5 pinkies or you could move them up to fuzzies and 10 crickets or superworms aday!This is the age that they need alot to eat.
I just only recently got my Sav to so Im not sure what hes going to eat when hes older im assing very large mice!

 

First I should mention I am not on expert and really the bulk of my knowledge is burrowed from other breeders/keepers.

I would leave the rodent but try to get away from the pinkies. Move to feeding older more developed rodents (not too large though) as baby animals such as pinkies have extremly high fat contents. Your sav definatly is not fat but he could be growing better. I feed mine largely mice and crickets but alot more then what you do. Right now it is around 5 adult mice and 3-4 dozen crickets a week. Depending on there husbandry monitors can consume a incredible amont of food. Mine has grown at an average of around 2" a month.

 

guy

My name is not "Guy" its Brittney!
Im not an Idiot!
Now can you explain why I am an Idiot any why mice should not be fed? :shock:

 

RE: guy

I don't think he's big enough for fuzzies yet. I can try one though. I'm afraid that if it's to big he'll choke.

 

sav

He wont choke on them.
Try fuzzies that are just past the pinkie point with just a bit of fuzz of them..

 

RE: sav

First of all, the reason why people keep reptiles is to re-create a natural setting in captivity. Now monitors (most) eat a wide variety of things in the wild. This doest not include mice & rats. Now when we give it what it isn't suppost to have, their are going to be some problem. Rodents are high in fat and at all costs, monitors must have a low fat diet. Insects are low in fat and are what monitors look for each and every day in the wild. Even if they tried, they would have a very difficult time catching a mouse. My savannah monitor eats 100 super worms every week and is in pretty good health. In the past I fed it rodents but I was being decieved. Thats why mine is a little larger. They dont need alot to eat, these animals gorge themselfs every time they eat and feeding them alot is called power feeding and it is not healthy. You said youself you have not owned your animal for long. I have great experience with these lizards. Everybody always argues but their reaserch is out dated and mine is 2007.

I hope I answered your question.

 

RE: sav

What other foods can I try? I tried fish, superworms, and eggs with absolutly no intrest from him to eat it. It seems he only wants mice and crickets...and he ate a night crawler once. I've heard ground chicken but I havn't tried that yet. I know that in the wild they do eat mostly an insect diet, what else can I try?

 

RE: sav

This animal will never encounter fish in the wild and it is dangerouse for a lizard to eat a fish. A fish might get stuck in its throat and could be fatal. Eggs should be fed only one month out of the year, thats normal for them and they should just be raw eggs. Mine loves raw eggs. I dont recommend ni9ght crawlers because thats not natural ither. Chicken isn't natural ither. People sure do try alot of crap to save money. Your animal doesnt take interest in the foods it should be eating because your spoiling it with the mice. He knows you will give in and feed him them if he dont eat anything else. You can feed him Horn worms, cockroaches, super worms, silk worms, crickets, spiders, scorpions, snakes if you want they can take out those. Keep his diet on bugs and you wont have problem in the future.

 

RE: sav

There is no actual problem accept his pickyness. Your the first one to actually say NO to fish. He usually bites anything that moves, but if it isn't a cricket or mouse after he tastes it he spits it out and rubs the side of his nose on the ground as if trying to make sure it's all out. Like I said before he doesn't like eggs, super worms, or fish. Till just a little more then 2 months ago he didn't even know what a mouse was. All the other foods I meantioned that he wont eat I tired before introducing mice. He loves mice though. I can try silk worms...but spiders are out of the Q. I'm so scared of spiders! I just want to create the healthiest diet for him that I can to encourage healthy living, growth and happiness.

 

RE: sav

I'm no monitor expert, but i really wouldnt feed scorpions or snakes. Not only will they cost a bomb, they could possibly harm the monitor.

And Under_Cuver, you need to watch the way you talk.

Comments like this are just unnacceptable. They aren't adding anything to the thread, and are only going to cause arguments and/or bad feelings towards others.

By all means, if you don't agree with something, tell us what you think. Dont start getting personal.

Back to the thread: Cute monitor!

 

RE: sav

I love the tongue picture! What a cutie!
lllxtc-I don't blame you for not wanting to feed spiders-not my cup of tea either. And I couldn't feed a snake to a monitor-I would feel like I was feeding it something I should be keeping as a pet itself I also agree with luke that you want to keep the welfare of your monitor first, and not risk arachnids or snakes hurting him.
I don't think I've ever heard of anyone not feeding their monitors mice of some sort. I always thought that was a staple of their diet, although I don't keep monitors myself, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

monitors

Undercover your monitor only gets 100 superworms a week?Thats not healthy!
Mice are a staple in there diets I have talked to many people because I would rather not feed mice but its a natural part in there diet there is mice anywhere in the world and they do eat them in the wild.
Monitors and tegus are closly related to the Komoto dragon and it eats anything insite..Mice rabbits,birds snakes anything!They are huge and way more than a person..

lllxtclll -If you want your Monitor to be healthy keep feeding him Mice but move up to fuzzie pinkies.Crickets really dont have any nutrinal value superworms are alittle higher than crickets..Hornworms are very expensive and night crawlers are also in the wild they come out of the dirt at night :shock: Doh!

If your worried about the mice..Ask any other Monitor owner..

 

RE: monitors

First of all, Savannah monitors cover a large terrain over many countries of Africa. They dont encounter rodents and cant catch them. My monitor is perfectly healthy eating 100 supers a week. He is looking his best. Mice are cheap, and the proper bugs are expensive. People always go the cheap way out and go for rodents. Mice have nutrition but also have disadvantages. Monitors have a hard time diggesting fur and it may get impacted in their intestine. Also, rodents are high in fat and you want to avoid all fat as much as possible for a healthy lizard. I AM A MONITOR OWNER and know exactly what I'm doing when it comes to them. I originaly said that "most monitors" dont eat rodents. Komodo dragons are fed by the villagers so that they attract tourists. All the ones that are out their are very over weight as you can see with pot bellies. I didn't think he would feed his monitor snakes or spiders but since its in their natural diet, I need to suggest it. Rodents produce much more damage to your animal then any spider/snake would.

I don't have my camera with me or I would show you my lizard.

 

RE: monitors

Calm down there a minute.

You can't just go around making generalisations.

Has it never come accross to you that not everybody doesn't wish to care for their pets properly? You aren't the only one who looks after your reptiles well.

This may be true, but you need to be able to listen to others, and help them, not insult them. If somebody doesn't have sufficient knowledge about them, help them.

How do you work that one out? F/T rodents shouldn't be a problem.

I have been reading through some caresheets and most of them do advise offering rodents, and some say that the bulk of their diets should be made from insects with the odd rodent or two each week.

To be honest i am not entirely sure. One thing i am sure about though, is just be wary of how you convey yourself, if people need information then try your best to give it to them. This site is meant to be a learning point for everybody.

 

monitors

Well said Luke!

Komoto dragons are not fed my tourists ..? :shock: They can kill a man no problem..they have very dangerous saliva like snake venim.I feed my sav around 4 to 6 fuzzies a week and about 200 superworms..She has no problem whatso ever digesting them.I clean her poop out every 2 days and its fine not watery no undigested mice in it.I feed her live I only put one in at a time and I always supervise when I feed her but she catchs them immidietly!so there isn't even a chance of her getting bitten.

I just dont know how you can only feed a monitor 100 supers a week.I feel bad for feeding her 4 mice and 200 supers throught the week because she still acts like shes a starving child.

 

Re: monitors

I could feed my monitor 2 medium rats every day and it would act like its starving. Do you not listen to anything I say. These animals gorge themselfs because they do not know when their next meal is. If they eat alot at one serving, then alot at the next, and those servings are to close together, your asking for a problem. My animal is in excelent health bt yours is probably over weight.