Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello... iv had my bosc for almost a year now was about say 7inchs or so when i bought him.. he has only grew like 3 or 4 inches or so in the years time..he eates regulary,,rat pinks and fuzzies...hes in a 55gal .temps are ok . he has a healthy weight to him..but hasnt real grew any...what are boscs normal growth rates is this normaL????

when you say temps are ok, what are they? how about hide spots or having a decent substrate or all those other oh so important little details that add up to good husbandry. Also do you feed your sav any crickets or roaches, that is a real important step of a young growing monitor, I bought a sav for my daughter last january at about 8" long, he is now about 24" long, and still eats large crickets, giant mealworms, mice, ground turkey diet, and sometimes, zupreem canned monitor diet, but only on a limited basis, i also offer egg yolks, chopped baby chiks, and once in a while fruit. so alot has to do with a monitors growth, more than ok temps, ratpups and mice. Try giving more of a varied diet, more insects. just my advice.

A 8 months later he was 40 inches, he was a bosc, and no I didnt by any means have ideal or great conditions, after all 13 years ago there were very few sources of info to properly care for them, so I learned slowly over 5 years with him, as well for years later with other monitors. Thats bugger was 4ft 6inches and 10lbs from about 2.5 years on. There is a set of conditions needed for normal growth, temps, food, water, moisture, humidity, dryness, hide spots, etc, most of those conditions can be accomplished with a good temp gradient, deep diggable hard dirt, high basking temps, and a good amount of whole animal foods.

>>hello... iv had my bosc for almost a year now was about say 7inchs or so when i bought him.. he has only grew like 3 or 4 inches or so in the years time..he eates regulary,,rat pinks and fuzzies...hes in a 55gal .temps are ok . he has a healthy weight to him..but hasnt real grew any...what are boscs normal growth rates is this normaL????

Firstly as a consumer you have to understand that buying wild caught animals "advertised as hatchlings" theres always the risk that the animals in question are adults that didn't fair well in the wild for what ever reason whether it be a lack of food, water, being a weak individual, high load of parasites, etc.

On the other hand it could be a stress factor or poor husbandry on your part? (i.e. improper temps/humidity, improper hides, not allowing a acclimation period, handling too much) The list goes on and on of possible causes. But if you indeed have had this animal a year and its only grown a few inches, i think its safe to say that your animal will never reach its full growth potential and possibly life span potential.

Good luck and please let us know how you are keeping it, temps/humidity? Basking surface?, ambient? cools side? and any other info you can think of.

Cheers
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0.0.1 Varanus Salvator (Gator)
0.1.3 Varanus Exanthematicus (Adisa "long term captive" other 3 "yet to be named hatchlings"
2.0 Ferrets (Chaos & Kasha)
1.0 Cat (George)

This is not normal. He should be close to adult size by now.

I have a web page describing how I care for my argus monitors
http://www.pizards.com/hbd/tricks.html
The exact same care can be used for savannas/boscs (although I personally would include more insects in a bosc's diet).

Good luck,

Luke