Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just ordered a hatching savannah monitor from prehistoricpets.com I'M SOO EXCITED! HES COMING TOMORROW!
My question is, when should I start feeding it mice? Should I give his a mouse right away? Or should I only feed him crickets until hes a certain age?

sorry, hatchLing*

sorry bud a hatchling is to small to be eating a mouse,better stick with all the crickets he can eat and dont forget to dust them.

So when is a good time to give him his first mouse? 3 months? 4 months? thanks

and everything to do with how fast your monitor grows. Watch the head size and when in your oppinion you believe its head/mouth is large enough to take a pinky/fuzzy/hopper then offer them. And the same goes with larger prey. If your husbandry is anything close to proper you will be feeding it fuzzies in no time because under optimum conditions with minimal stres your monitor will grow extremely fast. I'm not really sure when i began feeding mice to my sav but it wasnt very long after i got it but my water monitor is 15"s and taking pinks readily if you need a reference. What type of enclosure do you have? What temps are you prepared to offer the little guy/girl? Ambient/basking/cool side? Substrate? If you need help with any of these things please feel free to ask, thats what we are here for to assist one another. So dont be shy with the questions.
-----
Jaye- " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

Ah, alright. I have tank ready for him with hides, a shallow pool of water, 110 degree basking, 80-90 degree ambient, logs/decor, and dirt for the bottom. I've never kept a lizard that eats mice. I've only had geckos and some even smaller stuff.

1st- basking spot should be higher, somewhere around 130f and if you are indeed using a tank, DO NOT! use a screen top- you will dehydrate your monitor! Top should be covered with plexiglass with small vents or even wood, the reason being is to keep your substrate and monitor from drying out. Heat rises and takes moisture with it. Also in the future when you have to build a custom enclosure i'd recommend putting your vents on the sides of the enclosure since air moves side to . This way you get a proper air exchange.
-----
Jaye- " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

Make sure you add a water container large enough for it to soak in, in my experience with these monitors they love to soak, just be sure its too deep that the little guy might drown.,.
-----
Jaye- " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

are measured w/ a temp gun. I see this posted alot without differentiating. This is different than what a digital thermo. is going to read. Clint

n
-----
Jaye- " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

d
-----
Jaye- " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

No biggie, your just tring to help, thats a good thing. I suspect there are those who don't do much research, and not necessarly this post either. I could see some taking those temps as air temps around the basking spot and really fouling things up. Take care, Clint

If you walk in the mist you get wet.
Dogen

I began feeding my sav small pinkies when he was 7 inches long. Just make sure they're small.

I recieved my Sav at 8 inches long. She took live 2-4 day old gerbil pinks at this time along with about 3 dozen crickets or 3 dozen superworms every day. At 9 inches I attempted rat pinks and she took those easy. At 19 inches she was taking half grown gerbils and rat pups. At 3 ft now she takes one 9-10 week old rat or cut up chicken wings (With suppliments) once a week. Right now she's still in a 5x4x3 cage but I'm working on her 6x4x4 enclosure.

These guys are very good at swallowing things. You'd be amazed what they can fit in their mouths and down their throats and at the amount of food they can consume when they're in growing phase. Kiros now wants nothing to do with insects at all..After she hit 24 inches she wouldn't even look at them anymore. I'd like to get roaches but I still can't convince my mother.. (Who's very tolerant of my hobby...and yes I still live at home at 25) to let me get roaches to breed. I'm working on it though. *L*
-----
Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
2.1.1 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short) and 1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
1 Gerbil
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Sahara and Hercules)

s