Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,

My Blackthroat is growing, and eats four large mice each morning and evening. He begins to eat as I position the mice on his shelf - he has a dependable appetite. ( he chose he 6-foot high shelf as his headquarters. I set up his basking temps along that shelf.) My question is, should I switch to rat pups? Or are mice still good for him? He weighs about eight pounds now already.

Thank you for you consideration.(He he has a water feature now that I see him drink from once in a while.)

Roger

Roger

lots of information that had nothing to do with your question but if you want to feed him rat pups, feed him rat pups! He will eat them if he wants them. If he eats as much as you say he does, he should be able to eat more than just a rat pup.

4 in the morning and 4 again evening for a total of 8 adult mice a day?

That’s a lot more energy then a captive has the means to expend, I would feed 2 mornings and 2 evening, even then I would not feed every evenings.

BT are real live trash cans, they can eat your mortgage away if you let them, all this food is not needed for a lizard living in a box, of course having nothing better to do they eat.

Hey don’t thank me, I just save you lots of money and made your monitor healthier at the same time.

I understand you must be confused by my contradictive posts.

As babies I fed my son and doter all they could eat, once they started walking and feeding on regular foods, like every child they where given portions, now that they are running inn and out the doors enjoying pre adolescence and burning more calories a day then I all week, I need to make sure they eat the good foods but most important, I have to keep them away from the fridge or they will empty the dang thing every day.

This is exactly the same with growing monitors. Once adult you adjust feeding to performance, especially productive females.

I seem to have noticed that BTs start to slow down growing at 4.5-5ft long, after that I cut them back, but then again I cannot speak for the environment his monitor lives in.
Mine ate like trashcans every day until they decided on their own to slow down, some slowed a bit before others, but none were less than 4.5ft when they did this.
I fed a meal a day, whether it was many mice, peeps, or whatever, but rarely did I ever feed multiple meals a day to any monitor. If it works for him though, why change it, they dont all follow the same schedules, but to feed all day or multiple times it must be small meals, and the animal needs a 24/7 basking light to give it the option to make use of the food.
Ive always liked feeding multiple smaller meals, but an 8lb BT would be about 4ft long (at least mine were, or longer at that weight sometimes) at that size they should be eating adult mice, chicken peeps, and similar sized meals. Rats are something that I never bothered to use until later, but if they are cheaper to buy for you than mice, take advantage of them.

4 adult mice a day is enough to sustain a none reproductive adult albigularis its entire life, no dough.

Husbandry wise, this keeper should have it covered by now.

Depends, I consider them being a young adult when they take that sudden slow down in growth at about 5ft long, not at 8lbs or even 4ft.
On the other hand a cape banded WT would slow down much before 4ft. For a young BT that is under 5ft and under 1 year old I would feed more than 4 adult mice a day, they still grow long and thin, and keep growing at that point.
The latest example I had that was raised this way is still growing, and she was 6.5ft long last year. Even my flaviargus (which is only 4ft as an adult) eats alot (not that much now).
At 3ft long Sobek was eating 6-9 adult mice a day (6 months old and less), or 6 day old peeps.
I dont believe in putting a definite schedule for a species on how much they eat or how often, I go by the individual animals needs. But then again as I said in different words, my animals conditions may be more suitable for consuming more than someone elses may be.
Hey, if he can get mice cheaply (as I used to) and his monitor will eat 4 a day for its entire life, by all means do so. My big albig sometimes eats 12 adult mice at a time, but I only feed her 1-2 times a week now, and sometimes she doesnt eat for a few weeks. My flaviargus can eat 12 mice at a time, and never take a break all year for more than a week at a time.

My BT eats either 2 peeps or 1 medium rat every other day, sometimes I feed her 2 days in a row to switch it up, or if I see her foraging. She is just over 4' and I believe she is around 9lbs.
In a few weeks I will be moving, and her new home will be a 10'x10'x6'high fenced in pen in our back yard. Im curious with all that room to forage and explore if she will thin out, and/or require more food.

My BT is 6'9, weighs 55lbs and is 4 years old. He was 12 inches long from the tip of his nose to the tip if his tail when I first got him. I fed him crickets,mealworms,roaches and an occasional fuzzy(on a daily basis)when he was small and slowly moved up to an all rodent diet skipping a day or 2 between feedings. He now eats 1 XXlarge rat and 1 10 week old quail twice a week. He has his own room 13 feet long X 6 feet wide X 6 feet high. One side side is kept hot between 110 & 120 degrees F and the other side is kept at room temperature,,, about 70 degrees(he uses both sides). He seems to always be in great physical shape. Nice thick base of tail and not to chubby in the middle.

Hey you got pictures of that beast??

I dont ever remember you posting anything ever on a monitor near that size. Im sure it would take you all of 2 minutes to take some pictures and post them.
Im skeptical of 6'9" and especially of 55lbs. Why, because I do have an albig that is over 6ft 6 inches, and shes only 33lbs.

Pictures of him since you said he was 5.5ft (your first post according to the archieves). Its going on 2 years and alot of us are still waiting for pictures.
Here, to inspire you, this one took 5 minutes, that included going to the basement, opening the cage, putting on welding gloves, getting her out, and carrying her outside, then getting the camera.

This one took me 1 minute to get a picture and be back upstairs.

Oh, in that 5 minutes I got a few others. These were taken before I mowed the lawn, it was 4 inches deep.


Oh, by the way, 3 years old, 29 lbs, 6ft 3 inches, and this was after a big meal. Verified with my own digital scale.

LOL, someone just got called out!!!

Anything heavier than Sobek would be on death row, health wise.

Not saying Sobek is overweight, but she is a giant, and any albig 10lbs heavier the same length would seem morbidly obese.

My female has the same build as Sobek, not as big, but proportioned the same. Makes me feel good!!

Here is Troll:

Its a temp cage for now, She will be relocated outside of our new house with all the dirt, and sunshine a monitor could want.

Think of it this way, Sobek is 33 lbs and 6.5ft long, a good friends male WT is almost 6ft long and he is 25 lbs, together they would only be 58 lbs.
Makes me think back to an old book that said BTs grow to 53lbs in captivity, that was a serious over estimate, especially for species that spends a good amount to time climbing. Or an add I saw once for a 5ft male that was supposedly 40lbs, I think Sobek was only 23 lbs at that length.
I dont even think the overweight male BT I saw years ago that was over 7ft long was near that heavy, neither was "whiplash" an old friends 6ft 8 inch BT, he was long and thin.

From his former posts... Notice the broad range of weights from one post to the next. All wild estimates, size included Im guessing.

Mon Mar 13 21:07:04 2006-"I love my 35lb 5 foot big baby"
Thu Mar 23 20:41:17 2006 -"I am now the owner of a 2 year old Blackthroat monitor. He is 5 ft long and weighs about 25 lbs"
Fri Apr 27 08:51:33 2007-"I have a 3 1/2 year old BT... He is 6feet 9inches, weighs 43lbs and his name is "Black"."
Fri Aug 17 01:36:02 2007-"My BT is 6'9, weighs 55lbs and is 4 years old"

My computer and photo skills suck! I managed to upload a pic of "Black" into the photo gallery on the first page. Not the monitor page, but the first gallery page. I had a heck of a time getting the pic. My wife took the shot while I tried to keep him still. Since we had him out we decided to get a new measurement and he is now 7'2. He is just way too strong so I could not get a weight but he is over the 55Lbs mark. Dan Turner was so impressed when I sent him a photo of Black that he used it for his front page on his website. I think he took it down now but it was great too see. I will get more pics up as soon as I figure it out.
Sean,

Hey! It worked! Like I said I'm not to good with a computer but maybe I'm getting a little better.

Sean,

Nice to see the big boy.
Carrying Sobek isnt too hard if your ready to get dirty, and scratched up a bit, maybe a few bruises from her weight on her claws as she climbs on you, but I try to carry her with those pointed away now if I can. Shes still easier to carry than either one of my puppies, they are over 60 lbs and one is 75 lbs, so getting them in and out of the car isnt so easy any more.
I have a digital scale that is made for fish that someone bought me years ago just for weighing reptiles, this one goes to 50 lbs, and they can be bought for a few bucks more that go to 75 lbs if I remember right. I open a duffle bag that I already know the weight of, Sobek just climbs right in, lift the bag by the scale and subtract the bags weight, goes by lbs and to the ounce.
Measuring can be a challenge, getting them to sit still is not easy, especially at this size, a string is what I use, then measure the string where I marked it.
Hope to see more of Black soon.

For reference, anyone who has the book "Varanoid Lizards of the World", on the dedication page inside the cover, dedicated to Dennis King, his photo is with "Titan", a Namibian WT, for reference Titan was 6 ft 9 inches and 39 lbs at one time, of course he died a few years ago. Im not sure how large he was in the picture, or how old that picture was.