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A few questions about savannahs

skatecoupard Jul 11, 2006 09:41 AM

I was woundering if there is a limite to how much savannah monitors should eat they never seem full,should i feed them every day or should i feed them and let there food digest for a day or two?I feed them crickets,live and dead mice and chicken hearts.Also should i keep my monitors on sand or gravel(small gravel)? Can they become impacted with vary small gravel?

Replies (3)

tatbeesh Jul 11, 2006 10:50 AM

Is your savannah a baby? He should be allowed to eat as much as he wants while growing. Down the road you may want to reassess his eating patterns/behavior/diet as he gets older but, for the purpose of answering your question in under 1000 words, don't worry about that yet.
Cut out the chicken hearts. Dusted crickets (calcium) and mice are fine. Don't get fancy - I've heard everything from Dog food (bad), to turkey, to eggs....I can only speak from experience but mice and crickets do the job. Roaches are fantastic, too.
Generally, feed every day, a few smaller meals per day is better than 1 big meal every other day. It's easy to keep crickets alive and happy in a seperate tank/"cricket keeper" for a while, just make sure you feed your crickets good food, too.
Sand, whether or not it will get impacted, is not the best choice for substrate. Try dirt, soil, or a mix of soil and sand. Your savannah will love to dig around in it, make a burrow for himself under something in your setup, and sand doesn't allow for that as it doesn't hold any shape. Backyard dirt is OK as long as there aren't any pesticides used. Find a friend that will let you dig some up. Make it deep enough to dig a burrow. Your monitor will be happier.

Paradon Jul 11, 2006 12:28 PM

From what I have read she is right. Feed it smaller meal but more often. Pinky mice are good for growing babies since they need a lot of calories for growing. Then work your way up to fuzzy, have grown, and so on as it gets older according to their size, making sure it isn't too big. Try to feed it smaller meal everyday if you can, or at least every other day for growing babies. Here is the guideline on how to feed monitor according to some research I have done. Feed smaller babies and juvies more often since it is growing. Try feeding smaller one more often since it doesn't have a lot of energy reserve like a large fully grown monitor. Once it's fully grown you can cut back on the mice and only feed him enough so he doesn't get obese. If he does get obese try cutting back the mice and make sure he gets to move around a lot until he looses weight. According to Melissa Kaplin, mice (whole preys) are fine for adults if you use it cautiously, making sure it doesn't get obese. I tend to agree with her since large lizards, like monitors, probably needs something more substancial to nourish their body. Crickets and other inverts just doesn't have enough protein, fat, vitamins and minerals for these big guys. I hope that helps you!

tatbeesh Jul 11, 2006 01:59 PM

mixed reviews on "whats best" for your monitor regarding food/frequency of feeding etc. both on this forum and "care-sheet literature"

I found - though I'm only speaking for myself - that my monitor, as he got older (2 years), was putting on more weight with a strictly rodent diet. (with great temps and plenty enough space to be active) Which presented a dillemma - do I cut back on his meals and frequency, or try something else?

Imagine you ate nothing but McDonald's big macs. Everyday, twice a day. In order to lose weight, do you stay with the big macs, but only eat one every 3rd day? No. you cut back on the burgers, and start eating salads.

It didn't make sense to me to cut back on a food item that was good, but causing some weight gain, and not change anything else. Therefore, the roaches. (I am breeding a colony) They are much lower in fat, and still provide good healthy nutrients. I can still feed my monitor everyday, as he LOVES being fed everyday (the pig), I've lowered his fat intake while still providing him with the essentials, and he gets to chase something around for a little excersize. I still feed mice - just less frequently.

So far, so good. I'm pleased with the results.

Savannah Monitors (yes, sorry "in the wild"dine on bugs. Mice/meat make up a very small percentage of their diet - it's only in captivity that we've introduced massive amounts of rodents to the diet of a Savannah monitor. Captive monitors can get FAT. Do I believe that an rodent/meat diet is the cause of that - well, yes. somewhat. (aside from temp/space). I might catch some heat for that statement - but I'm thrilled with what I have now (a healthy active monitor) so I'll stand by it.

The challenge with keeping a monitor (or any reptile for that matter) is that it's never A B = C. It is not linear by any means. There are constant changing variables and you have to be on the lookout for those all the time.

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