Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I'm contemplating getting a group of ackies, but I won't be able to feed them mice or rats. Are these essential to Ackie's diet? Thanks

Kelly
The Critter Shack

No, a variety of insects that are well gutloaded or shaken in reptile vitamins will work. You don't have to feed mice/pinkies, but you will be feeding a lot of bugs!

AWESOME! Ackies, here I come!

Kelly
The Critter Shack
TCS Leopard Gecko Blog

for a decade and a half. Its correct the mice(larger prey items) are not essential, but that is NOT exactly correct.

For instance, with experience, you can without problem raise and breed( breeding tests a diet) ackies. But can a beginer do so?A beginer may fail at the monitors expense.

Asking the question you did, indicates your new to varanids. Limiting your approach before you even start is not a good idea.

I am considered an expert(I surely am with ackies) and I would not want to start a project with an empty tool box. I would want all available tools(rodents are a husbandry tool) to ensure that I will allow my monitors to succeed.

One major problem with captive ackies is, they rarely reach their potential, both in size and reproduction. Most captive ackies reach the low end of their growth potential. That is indication of something missing in our husbandry. In captivity, we should commonly allow ackies to reach record or near record size. As far as I know, no one has come close to allowing that. Not even close.

I believe we have achieved full potential in reproduction, many suggest we have passed their potential. But I do not understand how you can pass its potential, when it was the animal that did it. But I have not come close to allowing record sized ackies. And most do not allow them to reach even a midsize.

The reason I bring this up is, I believe its about diet, not the quality of diet, but the size of the diet. Most snakes graduate in size, and diet. They move on to the next sized larger food item. Yet, we feed ackie adults what they ate as babies.

Not long ago a fella(Neal) showed pics of a Storrs eating a quail. That was wonderful. I am sure Neil will allow some storrs to attain record sizes, if he keeps that up. We had many storrs far surpass record size. Understand, we fed them the same things we fed ackies. But storrs are half the size therefore, the prey items are essentially twice as large.

Again I bring this up because your limiting the ability to allow ackies to reach any potential when your limit yourself the tools to succeed.

I would recomend getting something that does not eat larger prey items.

Frank, what is the largest captive and/or wild ackie you have ever seen? They prey heavily on other lizards in the wild don't they? Do you think that this has anything to do with their smaller size in captivity, since lizards are very rarely (if at all) included in captive diets?

My yellow ackies no longer feed on crickets heavily, but I have discovered it is not from temperatures, but preference (I think). They feed very enthusiastically on everything else, like roaches, wax worms, pinkies, and ground turkey (very occasionally given). They just simply ignore the crickets, no matter how much they hop or run around the cage.

Do you think that they would also grow larger with larger prey items, like quail (like you said Neal feeds his Storr's) and large roaches and/or other insects?

Thanks,
Ryan

Awww man! I wanted a trio of these sooooo bad! I see what your saying though, thanks!

Kelly
The Critter Shack
TCS Leopard Gecko Blog

Just wondering why you can't feed mice. Frozen mice of all sizes are readily available and you just let them thaw and they are ready to eat. Ackies are usually excellent feeders, and they can survive being fed just insects, but as FR says, why limit the tools you can use. Mine eat anything they are served, but still seem to enjoy chasing the crickets around. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Pam
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1.1 varanus acanthurus brachyurus (Dorado & Dora)
1.1 u. macfadyeni (Amani & Abeba)
1.2 u. ornata (Husani, Zari, & Bintu)
1.1 u. maliensis (Njuru & Neo) Doug Dix
0.0.1 geochelone carbonaria (Rojo)
0.1 pogona vitticeps (Sunni)
1.1 hyla chrysoscelis (Pudge & Squirt)
Herps Are Awesome!

Hahhah! My mom won't let me do mice. Although I might be able to do frozen if I get my own freezer. Thanks for all the replies to a new monitor addict!

Kelly B.
The Critter Shack

Trust me, you really don't need your own freezer. The mice come frozen in vacume bags and are easily stored flat. If your Mom doesn't want to see them, just get one of those rubbermaid or even less expensive ziplock/glad plastic storage containers and put paper towels inside so you can't see in and put the packaged mice in there. Once you open the vacume bag, however, make sure you wrap the rest of the mice and seal them well to prevent freezer burn. My family used to be freaked out by crickets, mice, superworms, etc., but now they just take it in stride. You will love the ackies if you are able to get some, and you will be surprised at how people come around once they see them on a daily basis, even my husband (totally non-animal person) likes to watch mine. Good luck!

Pam
-----
1.1 varanus acanthurus brachyurus (Dorado & Dora)
1.1 u. macfadyeni (Amani & Abeba)
1.2 u. ornata (Husani, Zari, & Bintu)
1.1 u. maliensis (Njuru & Neo) Doug Dix
0.0.1 geochelone carbonaria (Rojo)
0.1 pogona vitticeps (Sunni)
1.1 hyla chrysoscelis (Pudge & Squirt)
Herps Are Awesome!

OH MAN! My mom would go through the ceiling if she found out I put mice in her freezer even like that. HAhahaha! Sorry, just envisioning my mom fumbling in the freezer and thinking that the mice were chicken breasts or something! I do have my own mini fridge in my bedroom, but it only has about 6 cubic inches of freezer space. Would that be enough for a trio of ackies? I mean, so I don't have to run out every day at least?

Kelly
The Critter Shack

You don't want to run out every day any pay $1 or more for a pinkie, as they don't just eat one at a sitting. The most cost effective method would be to go to a reptile show and buy them from a vendor. They run from .30-.45 each and are usually packed 50 per package. A frozen package of 50 pinkies measures 5"x5" square and is about 1/4-1/2" high, perfectly easy to stack, even in your small freezer. You can also order the frozen mice online, but the shipping is costly due to having to ship using dry ice. I go to a number of shows per year and always buy the frozen mice at the shows. As I said before, mine still like their crickets the best, but each animal is different.

Pam
-----
1.1 varanus acanthurus brachyurus (Dorado & Dora)
1.1 u. macfadyeni (Amani & Abeba)
1.2 u. ornata (Husani, Zari, & Bintu)
1.1 u. maliensis (Njuru & Neo) Doug Dix
0.0.1 geochelone carbonaria (Rojo)
0.1 pogona vitticeps (Sunni)
1.1 hyla chrysoscelis (Pudge & Squirt)
Herps Are Awesome!