One part of keeping savs that seems to be missed out all the time is skill level & the resulting correct use of equipment.

Many skilled monitor breeders get away with feeding mice because they understand their captives needs & can alter as required, i should say Frank could breed most monitors with his eyes shut & one hand tied behind his back.

The problem is keepers with little experience regularly take these pets on thinking they know best & usually ending in failure with-in the 1st year.

The idea of feeding 5 days insects/bugs & mice/rats/eggs/chicks at weekends ( not all together) with-in the 1st year helps corrects some of the blips in newbies husbandry.

To many mice & incorrect basking flood spot & cages that dry out with-in an hour or so add to the problem, get new keepers to put tubs of sandy soil in their baron cages, show them the right bulbs, the right way to set them up etc.

I'm quite show if i'd done things different maybe i'd still have my sav, i did everything to the best of my knowledge at the time, mostly figuring out from multiple care sheets who new what they were on about on the world wide web.

I've asked so many times to see a 10 year old sav, not seen one yet, maybe because them that seem to have got it right lose them at around 8 years old.

Long keepers need to agree on a care sheet that address the newbie keeper, rather than all going off in different directions, then as the keeper gets through the 1st year they can evolve with their pet.

This was the early years that probably did the damage>

This is after the flab had been removed & in a crappy cage>

& this is where i'm to nowadays, it would of been so nice to house my male & female sav in here>

deep tunnel, the fish is 4/5"

good luck with your sav!

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