Reptile & Amphibian Forums

All,

I was wondering if any concensus has been reached regarding an appropriate diet for Bosc monitors.
I ask this because a local reptile rescue has requested that I put together a Care Sheet for volunteers and potiential adopters, (these folks don't use the Web).
Before I commit anything to paper, I wanted to establish if some of the past controversy around diet for these animals had been resolved.
For those wondering the controversy in the past was the camp that had been advocating an exclusively all insect diet for Bosc's versus those who advocated mostly rodent diets.

Thanks,
Kit

I don't think a consensus will ever be reached, unfortunately If it helps any, there ahve been several studies of wild exanthematicus where they examined stomach contents and found predominately insect/other reptile diet. However, I think/hope most people would agree that, unless the animal is a specialist predator on a certain species, variety is good. I have had too many problems w/ impaction feeding an all rodent diet and I now feed hissing cockroaches, crickets and pinkie mice every now and then...
not sure if this helped any, but i tried.

I have one monitor that eats insects only, thats my red ackie, but only because he prefers crickets and lobster roaches and wont eat mice. My albigs which are designed to eat hard shelled insects, tortoises, snakes, birds, and carrion eat whole animals (ie mice, chicken peeps, occaisional rat), never had a problem with impactions with them or my timor which is over 4 years old and eats adult mice only. In fact in 12 years Ive never had a monitor suffer an impaction eating rats, mice, gerbils, spiny mice, and many other rodents, yet my husbandry was lousey back then and temps too low, but Ive seen many who have had an impaction problem, cant imagine what they were doing wrong.
All of those sucessful monitors reproducing, growing, thriving, happy, healthy, not overweight or impacted cant be wrong.
In the wild they eat what they have to because survival is their daily goal, however they have to. I remember eating bugs, snakes, wild plants, etc etc in the service but I dont eat them now, I eat a healthier diet because I can. Something to think about in captivity we offer what is good for them not the only available foods.

When nobody is sucessful with boscs on a regualar basis?
Are ya just trying to stir up trouble, Kit?

What are your expectations from your diet?
If all you want is to keep it alive, they will eat anything and subsist. Try oatmeal, its cheap.

If you want stupid answers, you are in the right place. How many thriving, reproducing savs do you see on this forum? Whose answers will be meaningful to you (and the animals)?
Just a thought.
D.

Dragoon,

Yes, you asked pointed questions. I would like to reply, however, my response may not be suitable for this forum, with your permission, I would like to respond to you directly if that is acceptable.

Let me know,

-Kit

Hello.
Please be my guest.
My email is not hard to find, I use it on all my posts.
Its blackdragonfarms@sympatico.ca

And I was itching to answer, but didn't, my thoughts on the matter of diets.
I believe monitors to be scavengers. Generalist eaters.

I confess I do not know the nutritional comparison of eating bugs and crustaceans to eating mainly mice. Nor do I really care about the specifics. I only care about what is available for them to eat. Who cares what they eat in the wild, WHEN YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY GET IT HERE??

Here in captivity, we only have what we have to work with. Boxes, some dirt, a light, some food.
NONE of what they eat in the wild is available here. NOTHING. Our gray crickets, mealies, and roaches here is just as foreign to them as a mouse. The bugs are different from their native bugs, and so are the plants and food we feed these bugs. COMPLETELY UNNATURAL. So is dog food, ground turkey and chicken eggs.

Lets be serious. I cannot afford to give my monitors acres of land to roam, 30 foot trees to climb, or insects native to Indonesia, eating plants native to Indonesia.

I have unnatural insects, or unnatural rodents. Rodents at least, have shown promise as a complete diet, as evidenced by the many N.American monitors that have grown and reproduced on such a diet. Its my personal decision to put some faith in the pics I see of baby monitors.

My monitors also prefer mice. They do not recognize superworms, mealworms and silkworms as food. They also like my leftover BBQ chicken, but damn if they'll get that as a meal.
D.

hi Kit, why does it have to be one or the other. It really should include both and other whole food items.

The only real choice should be made between whole natural food items and prepared food items. But even they can be added to some degree. F

Hi Frank,

I always assumed the reason it must be one way or the other because humans make it that way. Not that it benefits the animal in any way shape or form.

I look around and I see too many individuals wanting to demonstrate their "rightness" about a topic regardless if it is monitor diets or politics, hence the seperation, if someone is right about thing, then someone else must be wrong.

A pity really, the energy devoted to proving Right or Wrong could be energy best spent elsewhere.

Take Care,
Kit

That can only be determined with results. Not by doing. Unfortunately, there are very few longterm positive results here.

For most, they call "my monitors happy" as results, not by generations of strong babies.

The difference between those to results is, time, lots of time. F