Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HI, i was thinking about getting a savanaha monitor. i have a general idea of how to care for them, but i'd rather see waht you guys would say. here are my questions. thanks so much.

1. cage size for a hatchling, and adult.

2. temps.

3. feeding

4. are they tame.

5. is a uvb light important.

any other info would be helpful. thanks.
mike,

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Edited on January 9, 2004 at 11:59:17 by phwyvern.

This is just stuff that i've personally found out from keeping my savannah. Other people are probably going to have different ideas of what you should do.

1. cage size for a hatchling, and adult.

My hatchling went from a 20 gallon aquariumto a 50 gallon to an 85 gallon in less than 6 months. Right now he's at 20 inches (not even halfway full grown, hopefully) and in another month or 2, he'll need something even bigger than the 85 gallon. They grow very fast, so its better to start out bigger. I'd recomend starting with a 50 gallon, it gives him room to grow, but its still small enough that he can catch crickets. I'm currently building a 6ft x 4ft x 4ft cage for him. Most people would say that's the bare minimum size of cage for an adult. You can't buy a cage that big, so keep in mind that you'll have to build it.

2. temps.

Most care sheets say 120-130 degrees is good for a basking spot. I find that if i keep mine up to 140-145, there's no problem and he seems to be more active. Some people even have basking spots close to 180 degrees, but it would probably be good to start around 135 and change it from there. You need to have a cool end of the cage that's about 85 degrees, so he can choose what temperature he wants to be. Make sure you have hiding spots in both the warm and cool end of the cage so he's not forced to hide where he's un comfortable.
3. feeding

Start with crickets then move on to pinky mice and then bigger mice and maybe eventually rats. You are going to spend A TON on food. The cheapest way to go is probably order a bunch of prekilled frozen mice. I've found that mine at 20 inches will eat about 3-4 frozen mice a week (dethawed of course). Its wierd, but he eats 5-6 live ones a week. I think the movement makes him more hungry. That's more expensive, but i figure its worth it so he reaches his full growth potential.

4. are they tame.

They are really skittish as babies, but most will warm up to with lots of handling. All of them are different, however, and you're not guarrenteed to have a tame one.

5. is a uvb light important.

No. There have been no studies to show that it is needed. Some people say it improves the colors of the monitor, but other than that, there are no visible benefits.

Good luck and check the archived forums. All the topics you asked about have been discussed dozens of times by many successful keepers and breeders
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Scott,
Proud owner of Porker the savannah monitor (currently 17 inches, 450 grams)

Cage size, is gonna change fast and often. You start a hatchling in a smaller cage 30-55 gallon to keep track of them and make sure everythings working, then they should very quickly outgrow anything up to 4ftx4ftx8ft within a year, my first monitor (a bosc) went from 6 inches total to over 40 inches in a year and quickly to 52 inches.

" Some people even have basking spots close to 180 degrees, but it would probably be good to start around 135 and change it from there. You need to have a cool end of the cage that's about 85 degrees, so he can choose what temperature he wants to be."

85 degrees is not a cool end, 68-75 is a cooler ambient temp. My basking spots are between 150-188 f (surface), and the air temp above them is around 86-90 f. The cool end should go down to around room temperature, thats a temp gradient, they make their own choices as to whats needed and when, just offer the range.

UVB bulbs that you buy only project the proper band of it (280-320nm) for a maximum of less than 3 inches for less than 6 months. With this in mind draw your own conclusion as to any indoor reptiles actual need for those overpriced bulbs if given a good quality vitamin D3 supplement. D3 is also contained in animal fat from whole animal foods, such as mice, peeps etc which monitors should eat as the basis for their diet. The independant testing results of those bulbs are available. UVB is used by few to hardly any monitor keepers, if fed properly and kept properly no "magic lamps" are needed (magic lamp test- hold both hands out, wish for something in one hand and s%!t in the other, see which one fills up the fastest). Again my first monitor (12 years ago was already over 40 inches in less than a year and a so called expert said to me "you dont have UVB light on him, you better hes gonna die, has he even grown any since you bought him? I bet he hasnt, after all they need it just to grow". I said "no, Ive never used any supplemental UV light and here he is", their jaw almost hit the floor when I picked him out of the container.

He isnt kidding either every topic about bosc monitors 50 times is in the archieves.