Reptile & Amphibian Forums

...ive kept monitors since i was 15...mostly savs save for one 6' nile that was a handful to say the least...until about 4 years ago i stopped keeping them and focused more one redtail boas...until recently my girlfriend and i rescued a small sav and aquired a big 3' sav the day after...so here i am again with big lizards in the house and while i know a little bit about them (only a little bit....you are always learning with reptiles no matter how much you think you know) i think the small one was recently wild caught and the big one was raised from a "farmed" hatchling by a friend of mine so hes a very trusting monitor as long as you dont go over his line...and we are working with the little one (he likes playing tug of war with us with his food lol)both have been to the vet and have gotten clean bills of health....hopefully ill have some pics up soon...sorry so long,just wanted to introduce myself...sincerly ,Mitch

GO AWAY! we don't like your kind here!

Heh, just kidding. Welcome, im not overly "ancient" in these forums either, but welcome non the less. I assure you that the wealth of knowledge on these forums is rather amazing. Can't wait to see your "children"!

Hey, welcome! I know wild caught one can be a pain. Mine is very shy, and he won't eat infront of me. I have to go hide somewhere before he swallow a pinkie. If he's really hungry, he'll take some crickets and down that thing in a giffy. I bought mine at a local petstore, and he was very skinny when I got him. That's why I'm feeding him pinky to try to fatten him up. The girl at the petstore said he is a captive bred, but I don't believe her because he is awfully shy when it comes to feeding, only take food down when noone is looking, and he was pretty cheap for Savy around here. Recently, I figure out a way to get him to eat a pinky. I know some people may have a problem with it...being I get bitten, but that's the risk I'm willing to take if it means getting my savannah monitor to eat. And this little guy is kindda on the docile side for a wild caught. I'm not scare of being bitten...I've gotten bitten by tokay, turtle (I was hand feeding my red-eared slider and he bit my finger instead of the food [laugh!]), and dogs, but I don't mine. What I do is I try to get him to open his mouth my gently pushing doward on his lower lips, and when he opens his mouth, I put the pinky in it. He would closed his mouth immediately, and I'd put him down and walk away...leaving him to eat at his leasure. So far I fed him 2 pinkies in the last couple days, and he is looking lively already.

...when you least expect it, pin you down, pry open your mouth and put food in that I could care less if you are interested in eating!

WHERE is your sensitivity?!?

I know what you're thinking! But I'm very worried he's about to die because he's very skinny. One time he grabbed a cricket and would swallow it until I left the room. That's why I think he's just been recently caught from the wild. Maybe you can suggest some other ways for me to feed him. Anyway, it's not much of a priding his mouth open. it just a push on his lower jaw to get him agitated so he'll open his mouth. Now he just open his mouth whenevery I touch his mouth.

You don’t know what I am thinking or you wouldn’t be doing that!

Did you read the post below about handling? That stress call kill a monitor, and a small one even more quickly? That monitors are born with everything they need to survive WITHOUT any help? That they HATE HATE HATE to be restrained? Sounds like it won’t be too long before you are bitten! Did you know that a monitor can crush its prey’s skull with its jaw pressure? What do you think that will do to you tender flesh? A knuckle is about the size of a mouse head, do you think he could pop it? I know you don’t believe this, but your monitor hates you more every time you do something like that, or for that matter, every time you touch it. If you have proper temperatures, proper hides, and give him privacy, he will eat all on his own.

If he is starving to death his tail will look sunken in, especially at the top. Babies grow skinny and long, most of the monitors you see in captivity are too fat from lack of good exercise. I once fostered a mangrove that was found in our local convention center. It was the dead of winter when it came stumbling out and someone saw it, cold and very very skinny. It had been over 3 months since the last the last reptile expo, so this 2 ½ foot bag of bones couldn’t have found much to survive on. What a will to survive he had! He came back from the brink really fast, I didn’t think he would make it at all. 2 months later he had a new home, and you never would have guessed the shape he had been in so recently.
Without seeing your monitors home or knowing its conditions, the only thing I can tell you are doing wrong is ** REALLY stressing him out! ** If you think he is actually sick, take him to the vet. He might need medicine.
Good luck! –H-

The gentleman that posted the "force his mouth open and stuff in a mouse" comment posted pictures of his savannah monitor a little way down the board (on June 22nd) Check 'em out. Brace yourself.

if he doesn't want to eat ion front of you then leave him alone when you throw pinkies in there. I have many many reptiles and have not once force fed any of them.

I am very new to monitors and get alot of critism from the pros around here- but what your doing is plain wrong and you need to stop. And dont say hes skinny and your worried, you just cant keep your paws off the poor thing. When he grows up, hell get you back!

Also, i just bought a wild caught water monitor two months ago. Hes was extremely skinny and it worried me but ther was no force feeding going on. I'd leave four pinkies in his cage and for the first couple of days he ate none of them and i had to throw them out. Id rather lose a few bucks then shove food down my animals throat... and after two to three weeks my monitor doubled... maybe even tripled in weight... good god man whats wrong with you

If you have to pry open your monitor's mouth to get him to eat, there is something wrong with you AND your monitor. The problem SHOULD be "why is my monitor eating so much?" please please please stop. Just stop that. I don't know what else to say.

...he dosent have to be force fed (my little monitor)...he was a wc but he eats like a charm...even stands up for mice and plays tug o' war with the pre killed mice we feed him....hes just not as trusting or tolerant about handling as our big sav...but we are working on that (slowly...you have to gain their trust)...