Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i read in one of my monitor and tegu bookis that mangrove monitors dont need mice in there diet. i dont understand bc every1 told me any thing above 3 ft will need mice?

is this true?

tom

No, you said they NEED mice. That would imply they will die if not fed mice. That is not true they can eat other things and still be fine. They obviously do not eat only mice in the wild.

So to put they Need them is wrong. But they can and will benefit from them in the diet. But you can feed insects, chicks, etc. and have them be fine and healthy. You first need to decide what you want out of your reptile. Then decide what is needed in diet to achieve that goal.

sryy! this wat i wanted to say. i read in one of my bookis that mangroive monitors can live on a incect diet its hole life wit dusted incect. ids this true?

tom

Tom, we know you are looking for a medium to large monitor that you can keep without having to feed it mice. Although many monitors could physically be kept on a diet that does not have mice in it the expense of keeping a species that exceeds 3 feet in length on an insect diet would be overwhelming, unless you were breeding the insects in large numbers. In that case, I think your mother would probably prefer the mice.

A mangrove monitor would make a poor first time monitor. They are usually wildcaught, tend to be nervous, require a large enclosure and get large enough that you'd have a very hard time producing or buying enough insects to keep it healthy and satisfied. Get a couple of ackies, they remain fairly small and will not need as many insects as something the size of a mangrove monitor. Either that, or wait until you are older and living on your own, so your mother will not be worried about you feeding your monitor mice.

everyone say it will get pricy but me and my mom dot care bc we by 1000 to 2000 crickets for out other animals so that is not the problem. all i want to no is can i do this with a mangrove or a dumerial.

both a dumerils and a mangrove will get too large to continue eating crickets. They'll eventually ignore them.

Mangroves make poor first time monitors, anyway.

We all know you want a monitor that gets medium to large but eats only insects, but any monitor that gets over 3 feet in length (unless most of it is tail, as in glauerti) will be difficult to keep on a diet of crickets. If you want a good first time monitor that can be kept on an insect diet, consider ackies (Varanus acanthurus). I don't know of any other way of wording this.

No, you are not going to be able to keep a mangrove monitor on crickets or other insects. An adult mangrove will ignore crickets. Most adults of the larger species will ignore crickets when they get larger. Even a really hungry adult will ignore crickets for the most part. That means your monitor will be pretty unhealthy.
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