Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm very curious and it may sound stupid, but, does anybody know of vegetarian monitor lizards? I know a species of fruitjivorous monitors called the Butan. Are there more? Thank you!

v.mabatang, v.keithornie, and prasinus complex is known to take fruit in captivity. but butaan (v.olivaceus)is the only one we know of where fruit makes up a large part of the lizards diet

cheers

There are no vegetarian monitors. They do not have a digetsive tract that can extract protein from leaves.
Walter Auffenberg calls V. olvaceus "omnivorous" in that its diet is 66% fruit, albeit of a just a few kinds of fruit. It eats plenty of animal prey to get its protein. Fruits lack protein and might even be dangerous to feed tree monitors.
The diet of V. mabatang is really an unknown. Very few specimens have been found. Mario, herp breeder on Mindanao, is trying to get permits to take 2.2 mabitang into captivity. If he succeeds, we will learn a lot more about this most enigmatic of species.

I do not make much out of percentages as this time, as so little has been done. But many monitor species will indeed consume plant matter. Fruit is often taken as well as leafy parts of plants.

Albigs seem to be more prone to this then many species.

I keep many species, and my son keeps a few species of torts. So I steal his tort food from time to time and offer it to various species. What is very odd is, nearly everytime one or two individuals will eat some. Then the next time I offer, a different few will eat some. Not the same individuals.

I have a friend in Phoenix. That had Three beautiful Whitethroats, that would on a regular basis, consume kale. To a point of picking every little piece out of the substrate.

But As HaroldD said, omnivorous, seems to fit the most extreme examples. Cheers