Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey i just got a dumeril monitor. i know what they eat and everything. but im having a trouble finding crawfish. do you feed yours crawfish? and where do you get them?
Regards
Chris

I used to get them from grocery stores(dead).The bigger chain stores usually carry them.Also,some bait shops have them here(different type though).

You feed them crawfish. Where I live they are not always available. They are very seasonal. Most of the time they are only availible in spring and summer. I don't feed them to my monitors but I fish with them thats how I know when they are available. I do not know where you live but just be aware that your monitor may get "hooked" on crawfish and you might not be able to get them all year round. Plus having your monitor be hooked on expensive food like that is not fun. I do not think crawfish are that healthy either. They may cary parasites that may be bad for your monitor. I keep dumerils too. I feed mine mice for almost all of their diet. Maybe I will feed seafood like shrimp and crab like one a month. I only do that as a treat because I don't think it is that healthy for them and as I said above they might get hooked on that type of food.

-Mike

Parasites are probably not a problem, crayfish are too different biologically from monitors and it is unlikely that any U.S. or European crayfish parasite evolved to utilize monitor lizards as a host for part of its life cycle.

What I would worry about were pollutants. Crayfish are scavengers, and as such will accumulate the fat soluable toxins in the bodies of whatever they ate. Crayfish from industrially polluted areas are undoubtedly chock full of PCBs, dioxins, mercury, and the like, while in agricultural areas they are probably harboring quite a dose of pesticides in their crusty little bodies.

Luke

rodents are a nutritious, balanced, proven diet, i see no need to vary from that.

with stubborn feeders, new imports, sometimes babies, we have to be a bit more tricky, and sometimes raw shrimp will do it, but the diet is rodent and insect based, as soon as possible. once we make the diet switch, there is no turning back : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

...boil the crayfish - no parasites. I feed my monitors crayfish when they are available, and have no trouble with them getting "hooked" on them. What does this mean in the context of keeping a monitor anyway? Are my animals "hooked" on rodents too? They eat what I offer them - period.
I also offer balut, chicken and rodents and scrambled eggs from time to time. As far as seeing no reason to vary from a rodent diet, well I see plenty! They don't eat rodents day in and day out in the wild, in fact they rarely injest mammals at all.
Having said all this, rodents elicit the most excited feeding response by far in my lizards, the albigs anyway. Rudicolis would much rather eat frogs, but this isn't so practical.
I recommend feeding rodents as a staple, with other food items offered intermitently as availability and money allows. I've found balut (embryonated chicken eggs) to be an EXCELLENT suppliment to my animal's diet.
It's funny, with ANY other animal, keepers try and emulate what the animal eats in the wild. This goes with fish, birds, corals, whatever. Many monitor people want to cram nothing but rodents down their animals throat for sake of conveniece it seems.

Cheers
Jim

what happens if your monitor gets hooked on crawfish and you cant get them in the winter? Thats what its like where I live(nj). I can't find them all year round. Crawfish are expensive and my monitors eat a lot so that would be double or more what I pay for mice. I am not looking for a cheaper route but it has been proven healthier for the monitors. So why pay more for food that may not be as healthy as mice??? So you said try the "wild-type" diet. Mice and rats live almost everywhere. Do they not eat them?? I don't know about you but I want my monitors to live long and be healthy. As of now the only healthy proven diet is mice, and insects and my monitors are doing fine on that. I said in my post before I said I feed shrimp and crab as a treat. But not all the time.

lwcamp had some good points too. What about pollution that might not go away from boiling?? What about pesticides?? will they go away from boiling too?? I really do not know theses answers do you?

--mike

Hi Mike,
There is more than one proven diet for monitors! In answer to your question, the answer is NO, varanids do not injest an appreciable number of mammals (mice, rats) in the wild.
As an example, V. albigularis regularly eat, pancake torteses, locust, pit vipers, cobras, lizards, land snails and carrion. These are just a few of the items. Rodents are almost non-existent in their diet.
As keepers, we have rodents as a very conveneint food item, and they work very well for many keepers! Feed rodents as a staple, and crayfish now and then when available - you should do very well. I choose to vary the diet as much as possible, for reasons which should seem obvious to you after reading the partial list above.
Furthermore, I still don't know what you mean my "hooked" this term means nothing within the context of varanid husbandry. They will eat what is avaialable - period. I've been keeping these animals for 10 years, and I've never had an animal get "hooked" on something. Banish this word from you vocabulary when dealing with your animals - it's meaningless.
I purchase my crayfish from a guys who farms them. There are no pesticides or poisons to speak of.

Regards
Jim

Cheers
Jim

Youve done some good research, and apply what you know to your husbandry. Out of curiosity, have you travelled and done any feild observations?

I also was wondering why you occasionally feed scrambled eggs. Ive heard of the guy that feeds exclusively cooked meats. Have you fed any other cooked foods? I have never done this myself, and was wondering your views behind doing so.

Rgrds,
Michelle

p.s. I frequent asian food markets for various sea foods. This way, its fit for human consumption, and you dont have to worry about toxins. (So I like to believe )

Hi Michelle,
Most of the research in this area has been done by Mark Bayless and Daniel Bennet that I'm aware of. I've not been in the field - I wish!
Scrambled eggs is just another option, and a healthy source of nutrients for the lizards when fed in moderation. Actually, to my large animals, I just boil the egg and give it to them whole! Balut though is a much better option, and can be fed more frequently as it contains a much broader range of nutrients. I get them from a nice family that sells them at a weekly farmers market near my house. They sell both chicken and duck balut, which are just eggs that are fertile, with an embryo inside. So we then have a whole food item, (unlike just eggs or turkey meat) that's in a very convenient and easy to store package! It also doesn't poop all over and smell the place up like live rodents do!
I feed cooked chicken or turkey on occassion when I don't have time to get rodents, or I'm out of balut or crayfish. I know breeders that do it even more than I do and have much success!
My monitors probably get 50% rodents, with the rest a combination of the other items mentioned.

Regards
Jim

You said you give them the eggs whole? Shell and all? Just curious....thanks...

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n/p