Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got a savannah liek 2 days ago. I know he eats the monitor diet, crickets, mealworms, mice, and snails. Is there anything else he can have? like feeder fish? Can we throw feederfish in there and would it be ok if he ate them or is he not supposed to have fish? Or is there anythign else i could give that i didn't list? thanks.

Yes, you can give him feeder fish. Try to vary his diet by including a lot of food like crickets, mealworms, earthworms, nightcrawlers, mice and snails. You can give him some cooked chicken and turkey if you want, but usually whole preys is nutrionally more balance than cut up pieces of meat.

You can feed him fish, or dog food, or anything you want. Your monitor will eat all kinds of stuff, that doesn't mean you SHOULD feed him all kinds of stuff.
Feeder fish and mealworms, superworms, waxworms, cooked turkey etc. don't have the nutrients that crickets do..so why bother? If you really want to vary his diet, check out my list for you below:

GOOD FOODS:
- crickets
- roaches
- mice

OTHER FOODS THAT ARE STILL GOOD BUT USED LESS OFTEN, PROBABLY HARDER TO GET AND NOT "NECESSARY":
- unfertilized quail eggs
- snails (100% pesticide free)

BAD FOODS (THAT YOUR SAV. MONITOR WILL EAT BUT SHOULDN'T):
- dog/cat food
- canned monitor chow
- turkey, chicken, steak...
- mealworms/waxworms/superworms
- feeder fish

Crickets, roaches, mice make your job easier, too - many other foods (fish, dog food, turkey) produce smelly, runny feces that you'll have to clean up. The benefit is two-fold, going in AND coming out again. Trust me. In summary - just stick with crickets, roaches and mice.

OK I went back and read my post - it's meant to be a simplified guide for someone starting out. There may be many of you saying "I feed my sav. snails, mealworms and chicken all the time and he's fine!" or "the local Zoo feeds their monitors turkey with calcium supplement!" Even the resident experts on here have different monitor diets based on what works for them, depending on quantity, size, preference, gravid, age, breed...whatever...
I figure, if someone's new, I'd rather give a general, simple "tried and true" answer...Hope it helps a little...

Ok, thanks alot. I'm not exactly a beginner at this type of stuff.. I have a ton of reptiles, although I am new to monitors. I just figured feeding him fish would vary his diet a little more and make him a little more satisfied. So I was wondering if it was ok to feed him fish, sort of as a treat type of thing, just once in a while to give a little more variety than crickets, mice, etc. Althought I haven't been too lucky with the crickets. I don't know what it is but he really isn't too interested in the crickets. I will try roaches though now that I know those are ok. I don't know where I will be able to find qual eggs, but i'm just trying to try a few different things.
Thanks

You can find quail eggs in Asian market or other ethinic food stores.

Again, no one looks into the nutritive and enzymatic action of various food items within the system of the animals we keep. Fish like feeder fish are often nutrient poor and contain things that we wouldn't want in any animal's system. Not only that but Sav's are not fish eaters. They may come across one or 2 dead in a lifetime in the wild but that doesn't mean they eat it on any regular basis. IF you're going to be feeding fish... try coldwater seafood fish... such as haddock, pollock, cod, mullet etc etc... Warm water fish, especially goldfish, Tuffies/Rosy Reds, Guppies can cause nutrition problems if fed in any large amounts to animals not suited to producing the right nutrient chains from what these feeders contain. They aren't even worth feeding to a garter snake or any type of water snake let alone an open savannah land monitor.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boas (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
7.11.7.Leopard geckos (2.1 Blizzards (Caine, Phoenix, and Mirage), 0.2 Tangerine Albinos (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short, and Casper), 1.0 Tremper Albino (Mycah), 1.1 Triple. het blizzard x tang albino x patternless (Malice, Malfeas), 1.0 Full Stripe Chocolate Tremper Albino (Discord), 0.1 pastel (Raven) and 1.5 Normals) 0.0.3 het albinos, 0.0.2 patternless blizzard/albinos, 0.0.2 - 50%possible triple hets (blizzard x albino x patternless)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros) (R.I.P. November 18, 2005)
13 rats (plus pups)
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Ashe and Hercules)

Your monitor will thank you for it.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boas (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
7.11.7.Leopard geckos (2.1 Blizzards (Caine, Phoenix, and Mirage), 0.2 Tangerine Albinos (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short, and Casper), 1.0 Tremper Albino (Mycah), 1.1 Triple. het blizzard x tang albino x patternless (Malice, Malfeas), 1.0 Full Stripe Chocolate Tremper Albino (Discord), 0.1 pastel (Raven) and 1.5 Normals) 0.0.3 het albinos, 0.0.2 patternless blizzard/albinos, 0.0.2 - 50%possible triple hets (blizzard x albino x patternless)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros) (R.I.P. November 18, 2005)
13 rats (plus pups)
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Ashe and Hercules)