Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i a mangrove a little bit ago and he would eat everything i gave it, and just resently i got 2 18-22 inch mangroves and i have had them sence septemember and it has been hell getting them to eat all i can get them to eat is mice( and sometimes they will not eat them ) and fish. how come these 2 will not eat, is there a food ican gte them to eat? please help.

Gage

My guess would be fear. Fear of being attacked by the other animal and having to fight for the food. I have seen this with my savannahs and iF they are within eyesight of each other they will gobble one mouse and then sit and watch each other.I can seperate them and use dark colored rubbermaid tubs for feeding and they will all eat their fill.

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

I think the problem with your two new animals, is that they are in a new environment, in another animal's established territory. Dehydration could be an issue too.

I think it is wise to keep every animal separate in quarantine enclosures until each is successfully eating on its own, and in my opinion even more importantly, is making sure that each animal is accustomed to you, and will feed from tongs right in front of you. This usually takes quite a bit of time with wild caught monitors, but in my experience, this is truly the only way to make sure that each animal is eating correctly, and to make sure that one particular animal is not dominating the others, and eating all of their food(which is probably occurring in your enclosure).

People tend to just slap animals together right away, expecting that they will get along just fine and dandy, and that all are healthy and will eat. While sometimes you may get lucky with this sort of arrangement, I believe it is always best to isolate and quarantine animals, to ensure that they are healthy and eating, and problem fre, before introducing them into a group. It is much harder to monitor a group of animals than it is an individual. This is why I recommend you keep the animals separate, until you understand each individual animal more.

There's also the risk of infecting your current animal with a pathogen the new animals are harboring/carrying.. It is very risky and dangerous, introducing animals right away without quarantine... again, just my opinion..

So my advice to you is separate the animals, and get them feeding on their own in individual enclosures. Once they are feeding strong, or you feel that they are "ready" to be introduced to one another, do so carefully, and closely monitor their progress..

Best of luck to you, I hope your animals come around for you and start eating... Good luck,

cheers,

bob
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TheOdatriad