Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just adopted a 3 1/2 ft Savannah that was spoiled by family...fed all the time chicken and table scraps. He currently weighs between 8-10 lbs. Would welcome any advice as to normal diet/feeding frequency, as well as what foods/frequency is necessary to gradually wean him down to normal feeding routine. They didn't feed mice because daughter was squeamish about cuties...He has, however, eagerly devoured 2 fuzzies, hotdogs and june bugs for me.

Pic attached....Thanx in advance for your weight-watching help!

Todd Henry

Grab this book it's an excellent read and will tell you everything you need to know. http://mampam.50megs.com/bok/bok11.htm

Any more pictures?

Thanx for the book link! Any immediate advice on a Savannah diet plan, for weight loss and normalcy?

Todd

Not only is it easier to get the nutrition right but it smells a whole lot better when the food is coming out the other end. The animal is overweight but if you cut the hot dogs etc out of its diet and feed mice, chicks, roaches, and crickets the animal will do alot better and if the amount is controlled it will loose that excess weight.

you could try feeding lean turkey breast and crickets dusted or you could just let it live for a little while on the fat stored in its tail, until it the base of the tail softens up.
sav monitors in the wild fast for months in the cooler seasons. hope this helps.

That is just plain sad!!! You need to cut out ALL human food first of all and feed a lot less at a time. I would feed it about every other day or every fourth day. You new monitor has a lot of weight to lose. Can it walk? Increase the amount of vitamins you give it also. All that meat that it was given in the past also means that it's really malnourished. There is no nutrition in human food!! I don't care how lean the steak is!!!
Good luck with him. Not to sound grim but hopefully he'll pull the weight and live through all this.
One more thing, the monitor looks like it has residual shed on it. Try to spray it down everyday and even soak it if you can.
Good luck,
Christine :>~

A couple adult mice three times a week and some exercise outside the cage would help greatly.

ummm, are you recommending that (2 mice 3x a week) amount as a maintenance diet? That poor thing needs to LOSE weight, not gain it. Its terminally obese.

I'd feed it one mouse a week, and a few bugs, crank up the hot spot to 140, and give it dirt to dig in. One mouse might be too much, maybe every other week, and bugs in between.

And no, I'm not kidding.
Cheers. D.