Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I have a black roughneck monitor approx 2 years old and 2.5-3ft nose to tail that has been eating adult mice and lean ground turkey as a primary diet. I have been increasing how much I feed him and am now at one large mouse per day or equal portion of turkey (sometimes mixed with an egg) and he still seems hungry. He will claw at the door to his enclosure where I normally come and take him out to feed him for long periods of time even after feeding. I gave him two mice a few times in one day and he calms down and basks/sleeps. The care sheets recommend feeding every 3 days to an adult and I was wondering if mine required more because he is still growing? I know they have a fast metabolism but I still do not want to feed him improperly... I am just wondering if I should increase his food or change his diet or?

Side note- I get insects for him when I can but there are no pet stores nearby to restock on them.

Any help would be appreciated.

He may be too hot depending on your surface temps. Cool areas are just as important as warm areas. I feed my monitors every day regardless of age. If they act starved all the time I suspect they do not have enough cool area.

If you cannot get feeder insects concider breeding blaptica dubia cockroaches. They cannot climb glass and are sexually dimorphic. Males have wings females don't. You can feed them oranges, whole wheat bread and cat food.

The every 3 days thing is crap. I had a black roughneck for years and it always ate like a pig, and I certainly did not cook his cage too much either.
Oddly enough I feed mine bugs for 3 or 4 years due to some of the earlier inaccurate literature out there claiming they were not designed to eat rodents.
My wife gave him a mouse one day and from then on it got mice, appropriately sized rats and soft furred rats in addition to the insects that they do seem to have a propensity for.
I realize in the rest of the country that it is still a bit cold for bugs yet but one answer to your bug problem is field collected insects. Black roughnecks LOVE large grasshoppers and they really love katydids (which are a prominent insect in the forests of southeast asia.) they especially like the giant katydids we have here in Fl. although I am unsure as to the extent of their range elsewhere. Butterflies and moths work quite well also.
They are definitely ravenous even by monitor standards and one of my favorite species to work with.

Thanks for the replies I did recently build him a new cage and it has a new heating system than the old to make sure humidity is kept in and the temperature went up about 10 degrees I will lower it and see if it helps with his food cravings and continue feeding him at least one mouse a day. I found some places that sell the insects in bulk and am going to order a few thousand at a time now that it is getting warm enough to keep them outside until feeding.

Your temps are probably too low.I had a rudi and he grew to almost 4 foot in the first year.I feed him almost daily and when I did not feed him he would flip me the bird.These guys like it hot and humid.

Greg
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