Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchased a hatchling mangrove monitor. He is about 7-8 inches. I read that people feed their mangroves everything from ground turkey, raw shrimp, eggs (raw and scrambled) and insects. I have only seen my monitor eat an insect. The food I put in his dish is never touched. Do hatchlings usually only eat live insects or do they also eat other stuff like the ground turkey and shrimp?

Also what is a good substrate to use. I was thinking about getting sometime of mulch (wood chips). Would this be ok?

Thanks in advance.

Very nice little mangrove. As little ones I would feed them insects, and pinkies. You can add ground turkey, or shrimp or whatever to that if you wish. However it is not needed though. When using insects be sure to supplement.

You can use what you like as substrate. My mangroves seem to like leaf litter, mulch, dirt mix. They also love to swim and I offer a large tub to allow soaking.