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Well now, he's eating-

AttackDonut Jun 19, 2006 08:06 AM

I gave my roughneck a few days to adjust to new surroundings. Misting the cage lightly with warm water, every chance I get.

He's been alert and looking about his tank. Likes to sleep behind the waterfall.

I went out and bought 12 waxworms. Put them in a dish, and he showed no interest in them. Picked one up using tongs and put in near his nose.

He tongue went lashing about, sniffed at it a few times, a ate it. But he didn't seem interested in the other ones, so I took them away.

Went and got some small crickets. They came in a dozen for a buck, but probably ended up with 18 to 24.

Was only going to put 1 or 2 in the tank, to see what he would do. Bumped the tank accidentally, and released all the crickets. Brilliant job there huh?

In any case, the roughneck went nuts, and, as near as I can tell, ate all of them.

Has been sleeping since then.

So, how often should I feed him? About 12 inches total length.

Replies (3)

FR Jun 19, 2006 11:00 AM

Let me pretend to be your keeper, I think 12 string beans is what I will feed you. After all, you ate them. I hope you like string beans, hmmmmm it doesn't matter, thats what your getting, 12 stringbeans, the small ones, not the long ones.

But my friend Jimmy says, humans tend to get fat, so I am going to reduce that to three strings beans and maybe later skip days. Jimmy knows because he kept a frog or something. It died, but it wasn't his fault. So will you be happy with a three or four small stringbeans every few days?????????? will you grow much?????? will you bite the hand that feeds you????? hahahahahahaha

Sorry for the above, its merely to point out, that asking what to feed a monitor is a little silly, like the above. You should, no, you have to ask your monitor, what and how much it wants/needs to eat. Not ask people. What the heck do we know?

Monitors are like you, they eat until full. Then they stop and go somewhere and watch TV or something similar. Then they will get hungry again and eat somemore. Then watch so more TV or something. They may even feed again, depends on the temps you know. If the have good temps, they can eat all dang day long. I think Jimmy does that. But then Jimmy is kinda fat.

So how do you know how much to feed? Its easy, what are they suppose to do? Monitors are suppose to grow up(rare here) They are suppose to grow kinda long and slender, ackward teenager type of thing. Then as they mature they are suppose to bulk out. Most animals follow or are suppose to follow this simple pattern.

So if your monitor is eating and growing, and appears to be shaped normal, its fine. Feed it all it wants. Once its an adult, rethink this approach and make one that fits the needs of your monitor. You know, is it a breeding female or male. They eat different amounts.

But if its not growing at all, something is the matter, seek advice for a vet. Or if its growing in lenght slowly, but growing in width, getting fat. Then you may want to think about your husbandry. Most likely your not allowing the proper temp range. IT cannot metabolize its energy so it stores it as fat. A rise in temps should quickly allow this fat to be utilized as energy and the monitor should start to grow long and slender.

In my experience, most all species including the tiny ones, grow from 3 to 6 inches a month.(for X amount of months) All species can reach 80% to 90% of their potential lenght in the first year. Of course, you can, not allow that, by not having the right conditions and right amount of food. Type of food is less important, but still important.

What this all means is, watch your monitor, if it appears to be growing and looking healthy, well, it most likely is. You do not need anyone else to tell you, because we are not there and do not see your monitor. Oh and waxworms, you can eat them, but they taste like sh#$*^t.(crocodile dundee) I know of no monitor species if not starved that likes them. They will eat them if they have too. Try letting the worms turn into moths and see what happens, THEY LIKE MOTHS. Cheers

tatbeesh Jun 19, 2006 12:05 PM

Yep - "went nuts" is a good example of listening to your monitor. Go buy some more crickets, dude.

phantompoo Jun 19, 2006 02:03 PM

your guy is gonna need a lot of crickets...get em in bulk.

instead of ten cents each, you'll get them for a penny each

they are a pain to take care of(at least for nubs like me), but overall they help in convenience.

Mr. Retes keeps them with succes, talk to him

any pics?

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