Reptile & Amphibian Forums

eating larger prey rather than smaller prey or vice versa? Which have you found that they favor? Thanks a bunch ......by the way do yours eat daily or every other? what size mice.......figured id ask

Hi harely,

Each one of my animals prefers its own thing, which can be frustrating sometimes. As I choose to feed almost an entirely rodent diet, this helps eliminate some of those problems. While some of my animals prefer to gorge themselves all at once, others in my collection prefer to eat only a small meal. WHile the ones that pig out usually deny food for the next day or two, the ones who feed sparingly, seem to prefer to eat every day.

I have animals ranging in size, from the little 14" girl I recently acquired, all the way up to my collossal male, who is well over 3 feet in total length, and as solid as one can get(i would imagine).
The tiny female will feed on a fuzzy a day/everyother day, some of my medium sized ones will take a couple of fuzzies a day, or perhaps a crawler/weanling mouse, and my big boy will sometimes put down two large mice in one sitting!!! He will typically refuse the next day, however, i typically offer food to them every day, especially my females.

So, I have picked up on each of my captives' feeding preferences over time, as I'm sure you will with yours, try different things and techniques and see what they respond best to. While my male prasinus is a bit chubby, I have yet to see pictures of an obese tree monitor, which suggests to me that they know what their own limits are, and will not overindulge as savs might.. But then again, I keep them nice and warm, so I would assume they'd be able to burn it off anyways...

I hope this helps, beccari truly are a fascinating species, and rewarding to keep, once all of their needs and requirements are met.. Cheers, have a great day!

bob

The Odatriad

In times when I run out of smaller sized prey, I will usually chop up larger mice into little pieces, it really does not make a difference, however I have noticed that it sometimes creates an even more intense feeding response when the prey is "opened up".
So regardless of what size rodent you have available, they'll always find a good home in the stomach of a varanid...haha

take care,

bob

Hey harley,

This is my first post here but i thought i'd add my 2 cents in on this one. I currently keep and breed and with fingers crossed will have a few hatchlings this summer. Any who I came across this interesteing article thought i would post it.

enjoy
rob

BLACK TREE MONITOR FEEDING BEHAVIOR
R. W. Hartdegen et al. [1999, Amphibia-Reptilia 20(3):330-332] examined the effects of prey size and movement on the feeding behavior of captive black tree monitors, Varanus beccari. Three experiments were conducted: in experiment 1 the basking lamps were turned on and the prey was offered alive; in experiment 2 the basking lamps were turned off and the prey was offered alive; in experiment 3, basking lamps were turned on and prey was offered dead. Three sizes of prey were offered, including adult crickets (Achela domestica, x = 0.43 g, s = 0.08 g), newborn mice (Mus musculus, x = 2.6 g, s = 0.9 g), and newborn rats (Rattus norvegicus, x = 20.6 g, s = 2.1 g). Prey was placed on the terrarium floor at random times during the day, and the exact location at which the prey was swallowed by the lizard was recorded. More prey was eaten at perch sites (76% of the 125 prey items) than on the cage floor (24%). Lizards moved to perches regardless whether the basking lamp was turned on or off (64 times versus 60 times: (_² = 0.02, df = 1, P > 0.05). Large, live prey were more likely to be carried to a perch for consumption (_² = 5.83, df = 1, P 0.05). Prey activity also affected perch use. Live crickets and newborn mice were taken to perches 81% of the time; dead ones were taken to perches only 38% of the time. Carrying a large moving prey to a perch site might be considered an antipredator tactic, reducing exposure to predation, or a tactic for reducing intraspecific kleptoparasitism (food stealing). On several occasions the authors witnessed cagemates stealing food from each other's mouths, but this behavior might be an artifact of captivity. Its occurrence in the wild still needs to be studied, as the social behavior of the V. prasinus complex in the wild is very poorly known.

Thanks for the responces guys