Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My bigger sav is doing great, loves her new enclosure but has not really leanred yet that savs are supposed to LIKE dirt! Anyway....
my question on feeding is just how much SHOULD I be feeding and how do I know when it is enough?

"Fluffy" hunts every evening and is fed a variety of foods, none of which seem to fill her up.

I am guessing she is about 3 pounds. Last night she ate a 4 week old chick, a mouse, about 10 crickets, two superworms and was STILL hunting!

She defecates once a day, in the exact same spot (GOOD GIRL!) and it is fully formed, so I know hse is digesting well.

Can someone give me some guidlines as to how much I should expect her to eat. What size prey items?? I just want her to be a healthy happy reptile and if she SHOULD keep an edge of hunger, fine, but until someone experienced tells me this, I hate to see her constantly in "hunt" mode.

I will add that I was shocked that she ate the chick that size, makes me wonder if I should also change from mice to F/T small rats.

Also, a feeding question on my really small sav. We have been giving her about 12 ccs of AD with vitamins and parazap added. She takes all of it happily. She is MUCH stronger now and actually has attempted some tail whipping when i am feeding now, so I KNOW she is regaining strength. Each night before feeding her I offer her a cricket to see if I get a feeding response. Last night was the first time I got a "head snap" in the direction of the insect, but she did not go after it OR eat it.

SHould I hold off on feeding her the stuff I have been giving her to see if she actually gets hungry, if she'll eat on her own or should I just continue what I have been doing for a bit longer?

Thanks!
Nina

about your larger sav, a good feeding guideline would be...provided that you offer ample heat, that the tail is nice and full at the base, a sav should also have thick legs and a fairly thick neck. If it is still hungry after you feed it, I wouldn't worry to much as long as it is staying full and gaining weight (as a sav always should at that size!). Once every week or two though, and this is just my opinion, I would let it eat until it can't eat anymore. That's just because that's how I would want it . However, as it gets older, you need to be more cautious of feeding too much because captive savs have a tendancy to become obese. Right now your monitor would be fine eating to it's hearts content.
Just use your head and keep and eye on it's progress. Good luck,

Tim

Thanks for your reply! I was just noticing this morning how fat her legs are! She is a chubby thing, cute as can be. Isn't it funny how things happen? I had no desire to own a really LARGE reptile, then they came along NEEDING a home, now i can't imagine NOT owning one.

Nina