Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got my water a week ago today. On the second day I had it, I put some crickets in there and he started eating.. I read a few places that as long as he could eat them within a couple minutes, it wasn't going to be too much.. The problem is he is only about 13 maybe 14 inches, and he will eat a dozen crickets as fast as he can run them down.. im probably going to start killing the crickets to break him of hunting, but I need to know how many its safe for him to eat.. I dont see him being able to digest a dozen crickets that fast, but then again I am less experienced than I like.. Any input?

Hey dude its alex let him keep eating and eating until he does not want anymore. And as far as crickets go dont just give him cricks vary his diet. All the monitors I saw at EBV were able to eat pinkies if not fuzzies so that probably includes yours bro. Salvators also eat crustaceans and fish. Talk to Mark Bayless he was the one who told me to vary the diet of my goudlii bunch. But usually for growing waters it is never too much since they can grow so damn much in their first year.

alex

you CAN'T overfeed on insects, let him eat all the crickets he wants, and why you would want to kill them is beyond me, that would make no sense at all.

you are confusing "feeding" with "digestion" and they are not the same thing at all.
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

why don't you toss the crickets and feed him some pinkies or fuzzy mice? I dont give my water crickets, I start them with pinkies, then go to fuzzies, then hoppers and mice before I know it. The only other variety they get is chicks and smelt in there diet. with an occasional treat of fiddler crabs.

I have 1.1 waters both over 7 years of age, 0.1 at 2 years old, and 1.1 babies. This method has worked for me over the years.

Good luck

What is smelt?
Thanks

haha seems I am the only one that ever knows what that is.

Smelt is a small minnow like fish. They sell it here at the supermarket in the freezer section. It comes in a small blue bag.

You do not need it but my water monitors and some of the other monitors seem to enjoy it.

Kind of like whitebait?

yeah it is. Type it in the search engine and you'll find info. on it.

JPsShadow,
Are you Italian? Just wondering because only Italians seem to know what smelts are. It's part of a xmas tradition.
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JS

"It's funny how from simple things, the best things begin."

HHaha No I am not italian.

It's not hard, to find it in the stores down here. Plus you can go catch it out of Lake MI.

Bet ya didn't see that question coming did ya?

You should be glad you are not, because they are vial and disgusting things (to humans) that my father-in-law continually tries to shove down my throat every xmas.
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JS

"It's funny how from simple things, the best things begin."

Come on you know you like to swallow them things down. haha

As strong as they smell after I thaw them out hmm I might be able to eat one but I'll leave them for the monitors.

Atleast someone knew what I was talking about for once.

good deal, I just didn't want to end up over feeding him and making it sick.

Will feeding it live rodents and such make it more aggressive?

whether you feed him a live cricket or live mouse its the same. it is the act of movement that makes them more on there toes when it comes to feeding.

You can give him f/t if your afraid he will get agressive.

plus f/t is cheaper cause you can buy in bulk.

Good luck

If he is aggressie hell be aggressive no matter what. I had a speckeled that I got from PE long time ago when they had them available and he was the meanest SOB I ever had. He got out of the cage and died unfortunatley froze to death. But I fed him frozen mice and he was still agressive so from this experience I think the animal just had a bad temperment. If the little guy lets you handle him now without too much fuss then if you keep working with him he will earn your trust and let you interact with him whether you feed him crickets mice chicks crabs etc... Monitors are smart if they trust you the wont be agressive for the most part(meaning they will let you interact) if he doesnt then hell be agressive not matter what. There so much more than you can say about this,but the best thing would be learn to read the monitor and go from there.

I am by no means an expert but this is how i have had success just by reading them and letting them tell me what they want eventhough I dont hold my monitors much at all the only to ever bite was the speckeled water ( that was also my best looking one too) i still get pissed at myself for not closing the door all the way on his cage $%$4

alex

alex

cool. i just wanted to make sure it wouldnt increase it by feeding his instinct to hunt.. and by giving it dead stuff i would be in slightly more control over when it ate. the theory was to get it used to being fed at a certain time so it wouldnt decide it was hungry and mistake a finger for a mouse. from what you guys are saying it seems like that isnt something i should worry about..

he is pretty friendly right now. i try and hold him for atleast 5 minutes a day. he is still pretty skittish, especialy if there are more people in the room moving around. he has never tried to bite me or act aggressive. just a little spooked.

that if you feed a monitor with tongs the animal may come to associate food/eating with tongs. If you feed with your fingers some monitors will associate food with fingers/hand. This stands to reason if you think about it. Although, this may not be a problem now, given just a year of growth that could be serious drawback, you decide. I don't know if this responce has been documented in the species in question. Years ago I used to have a sav. that I feed with my hand and when hungry would get that look in his eye towards my 5 pinkies when I put my hand in his cage to interact. That is my personal experience (mistake) I'll noy make again.

I absolutely agree with you. I have found the food association to tongs/fingers to be true in many situations.
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JS

"It's funny how from simple things, the best things begin."

Blademr2,
I would suggest giving him pinky or fuzzy mice more often than crickets. Use the crickets as a treat every now and then more then a good piece of his diet. Also make sure your basking temps are where they should be and you shouldn't have to worry about over feeding.
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JS

"It's funny how from simple things, the best things begin."