Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got 2 mice at the pet shop for feeding my monitor. he just doesnt eat it. he just sits there and watches it and every once in awhile the mice will go and bite at it but it wont harm him... please help me...

okay I just got him to eat it, and im sitting here watching him. I took the rat outside and cut him up a little bit, cutting peices off his tail and stabbing him so he would get all bloody. Put him in the cage with my monitor and he tackled that thing like nothing! ^_^ but then I realized that the guts were flying all over the wood chip substrate I pulled him out and put him in his old feeding tray that I cut the rat up in so he wouldnt get any of the wood chips in his stomach. He just did finish and it took him around 10 minutes to fully swallow it and I think he like it ^_^

You took a live mouse and cut pieces off of its tail and stabbed it? wow. just wow.

Besides, its really hard to even imagine why he wouldn't eat since we don't know any details of the monitor, enclosure, temps...

well I have him and now hes still a baby in a 30 gallon enclosure wood chips as substrate with temps that fluctuates between 87 and 93. There was no other way he would eat the rat... most lizards like him are prone to blood, I thought anyway. I had to take any idea that I could get cause he has eaten anything in about a week so yea.. What would you do???

Alriht you are being pretty vague about this monitor.

How about sixe, species, etc.

And no matter what the species 93* is too cool for a hot spot. All dirinul lizards fair beter with a large variety of temps from the 70's to a hotspot of 120*.

In the words of FR, "Heat em, and Feed em!"

Best of Luck!
-----
Jeremy

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer

1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow RTB's
1.1 Hypomelenistic RTB's
0.2 Pastel Hypo RTB's
2.0 Double Het Stripe Albino RTB's
0.1 Suriname RTB
0.1 Anerthrystic RTB
0.0.10 Red Bearded Dragons
1.1 Rhinoceros Iguana's
1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Ball Python
1.1 Cream Golden Retrieviers
1.0 Pomeriaian
0.2 Catus Terribilis
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Child -coming soon-

He is just over 14" and he is a savannah and I will prolly get my a hotter heat bulb the one im using is a 75w flukers basking bulb. I got him from the pet store around a month or so ago he would slay some crix to until he stopped paying attention to them >.

You should definately get his temps up. I have two young water monitors and their basking spot is about 140 degrees. If the animal is well he should have no problem eating a mouse, whether its bloody or not. But you said it took him 10 minutes. Maybe the mouse is too big, because mine will eat a mouse in about a minute.

I would suggest buying frozen mice/rats. Monitors are very prolific scavengers anyways. I just cant imagine cutting up a live rat, that seems pretty cruel to me. And any research done would have clued you in to your very low basking temp. Pro-Exotics has a great article as well as the NERD website.