Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I do not feed this stuff, I was just on another forum and someone stated they have fed their monitors catfood as a main diet for 20 years now, I don't want to mention names yet, and hes been trying to prove me wrong that catfood is better then mice and crickets and roaches. I just want to know what you guys think about the catfood vs. whole food items. Thanks guys.

Whole prey items are always best it is the same thing they have been eating for thousands of years in the whiled. Cat food in most cases has been specially designed for feline nutrition that greatly differs from a reptile’s nutritional need. Monitiors are normally hearty animals that can even survive on garbage thrown out by humans in their native country but that don’t mean that is a healthy diet. You will occasionally see people on difrent lists saying they feed this or that and it is ok or even good for their monitor’s but personally I feel it just shows their lack of intelligence. You would probably be better off arguing with one of the walls in your house then convincing this halfwit to feed whole prey items.

I have pictures of wild nile monitors that live in and around human trash dumps, and pics also of animals from the same area that dont live in or near the dumps. The "junkyard niles" as adults are fat, some look seriously obese, I have yet to see a pic from the wild of any other nile that has either one of those descriptions anywhere, so its not good for them to scavenge from us as a primary food source or eat cat/dogfood, huh?

Hi SHvar,

Any way you could post those pictures or possibly e-mail me a copy. I'd be very interested in seeing them. I find it fascinating that wild monitors act the same way as black bears in North America.
Thanks
David

This is a pic of a sewer monitor. Wonder what it ate to get like that? This pic was posted on our site by Hendrix(I hope its OK to use your pic Neil, thank you)

I think catfood is not so good, if someone wants to force a square peg into a round hole, go for it. Both the monitor and the keeper will suffer. But No worries, you surely can do it.

You must consider(thank you for considering) that a vast majority of these monitors will not live long enough or be kept by the keeper, for a poor diet to kill them. They will find other ways to die. I am sorry, but that is hardfast numbers.

I think using food that is proven to be good is a better approach that hoping catfood will not kill your monitor. At least then, you can work on other weaknesses in your husbandry. Good luck FR

Holy Toledo. Where was that picture taken? It looks like a barrage balloon

In the Philipines, it was living in a sewer, now its dinner. Cheers FR

like that monitor was snared right above the vent...also was probably bloated with gas(that couldn't escape) cause it had been dead for a while...it was a good picture though...i think Neil was posting about how they lived in the sewers not how fat they got in the sewers... i know the whole food thing is so important...billy

Sorry Rope, thats how locals secure monitors, they tie them like that and tie them to a tree. I hear thats common in indo too.

Also, bloated makes the monitor round, not wide. Even bloating does not account for the tail and neck thickness. This could be a gravid female, which would better explain the fat middle, but even so, its a very fat monitor.

About living around humans(sewers) people who live where monitors live, understand clearly, that monitors do very well living off of humans, they are very common in cities, edge of cities, garbage dumps, farms and paddocks, etc.

I one time I was concerned about human encroachment on monitors, then I found out, they do better with that. So now, I will worry about other types of reptiles and animals. As you know, I call monitors, reptilian rats. Not in a derogatory term, but in a survival sense. Cheers FR

All of the most sucessfully kept monitors and oldest monitors are fed on the whole animal diet, based on rodents, and insects (for odatria) in captivity. Look around this forum for a few years and see the best looking, fastest growing, most colorful, vibrant, healthiest, best reproducing, and the oldest monitors (of all species)eat the whole animal diet based on rodents. If anything it has been shown that the short living, less growing, non reproducing, and overweight monitors are fed dog and cat food. Also I noted some ackies fed "another diet" compared to those fed dusted insects only were overweight in the same conditions, yet I believe higher basking temps could make a difference there.
Id like them to prove that cat food would improve over all of those monitors out there that go from hatching to 6-12 months old and are reproducing consistent, multi-clutching, outgrowing others, etc that are fed almost exclusively rodents.

I would like to know how many monitor your friend has gone through in these 20 years. If he said he has a 20 year old monitor that has been feed catfood as the staple diet. I am calling him a liar and an idiot.
I have a blackthroat that was fed catfood. It took alot of work on my part to get it healthy. I would like to know if he is bold enough to post pics of the animals he feeds garbage to here.
I think you shopuld drive to his house, take a large bag of frozen mice, knock on his door and when he opens the door, smack him upside the head and say, "here, this is monitor food"
Just my opinion.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

LIAR, thats the kind of crap you hear from the guys who have hundreds of cheap half dead imports they spent pennies for, then charge someone hundreds to make alot of dough on.
Make that a bag of large rats in one hand and a bag of jumbo mice in the other, while alternating with chicken peeps. Makes you wonder where these guys get it from, I wont mention any names just that one starts with "Giant" and the other petstore monitor books with pretty pics.