Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I have an 11 month old savannah monitor named Jango. I got him at about 4 inches long (w/tail) and when I got him I kept him in a 20 gallon tank. Just today, I moved him into a 40 gallon breeder tank at the size of 11.5 inches (including his tail). His substrate is soil, he has two bulb fixtures w/ 100 watt bulbs in each. He has a habba hide, two driftwood branches, and a foot long water bowl that I just added in today as well. His temps today were at 86 and usually go up to 90. I feed him crickets and meats. I moved him into a new tank and got him this huge water bowl since he has slowed down shedding lately. I know his size is a little too small right now but I'm working on it. I was wondering since I heard that it will be better for me to start feeding him frozen thawed fuzzy mice. My local pet store (few blocks down) sells them in a pack of six. If I buy him that and feed him one mouse a day for 6 days a week, will that aid in his growth? I'm also open to any other suggestion.

Hello,

You'll need a larger enclosure that's suitable for the monitor as a 40 gallon is small. You also want to adopt a feeding schedule that will promote growth in your monitor and not obesity (which is a common problem with Savannahs and leads to liver failure). You also need a proper temperature gradient, which will be difficult to obtain in a small enclosure.

Temps of 80-90 degrees on the low side, with a cool hide spot, and a 130 degree basking spot and a hot hide spot. A mid-range hide would be nice as well. I would say run a basking spot in the best range possible meaning one that won't raise the ambient temperatures in the enclosure too much. Check your temps regularly. I use a Raytek lasersight infrared thermometer; however, you can buy a generic brand on Ebay for $35.00, just watch their range (how close the area to be checked has to be).

I dont think I want to move him out of the 40 gallon as I just bought it today. It isnt too small for him, the 20 looked a little small but the 40 is good for him. The width is almost 2 times his size and the length is about 3 times the size of him. It looks good. I am going to get another light fixture and get a 150 watt bulb and put that in between the 2 fixtures. I would just like to know if the frozen thawed fuzzies will help him grow stronger and faster. I dont think I can afford all the things you told me too since I'm only 16 but I'll work on it. I plan to move my monitor into a custon made cage when he reaches about 2 feet. Anymore suggestions?

P.S. I'm going to put a picture up of him that I took today soon.

Mine is about 3 months old and about 10-11 inches. He's grown about 4 inches in the two months I've had him and I have one thing to say....MINER_ALL...Within a week and a half of first supplementing with it he went through a major shed and has been growing like a weed ever since.

Hmm miner all. Is it used to dust on crickets? I know about the calcium Rep-Cal since I use that but, whats minerall like?

do you have anything to measure surface temperatures with? Even a thermometer with a probe that you can lay on the basking surface. Miner-all, pinkies and everything else everyone mentioned is not going to make much difference to the growth of your monitor if it can't get its body temperature high enough to get its metabolism going. What you want is a basking spot of around 130F. It's very important that you find out what the basking spot temperature in your tank is.

Yeah, I'll try that.