Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My girlfriend got me a Savannah monitor for christmas.. I've had experience with lizards before, but not like Artimus..

First i'll list his habitat and feeding habits.

I have him in an 80 gallon tank, with ventilated top.
I have wood chips, thin, not large, as his ground.
I have a large water bowl, fresh water all the time, but sometimes he takes a poopey in it and i clean it out very well. I have a little hide-out right under his 150W Heal Glo lamp.

The cage is about 110F under the lamp and about 98F on the other side of the cage. I feed him large crickets, about 50, he can eat ALOT. Sometimes i feed him dog food, canned. I also feed him some Monitor food from the pet store, he doesn't like it very much, if ever. I don't give him any mice because my girlfriend doesn't want him to be mean, she is afraid he's going to bit our sons hands off, understandable. But i was wondering if that would hurt his diet? I place all the non-moving food on top of his habitat but most of the time before i get it there he comes out and goes for it. He doesn't eat it very often if it's not from my hand, except crickets. His feces is normal, alot of brown with some white.

Was wondering if there was something I was doing wrong, nothing is wrong with him. He is very active, i let him roam around the room almost 5 hours a day, since i'm in here alot. He loves to be held and gives kisses to everyone.

Just wondering if there's something I could do to further his likeness? Any comments are cool..

Thanks, Justin.
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.

I would keep him on crickets and live food if you can. Dog food is a no no - it doesn't have the proper nutrition for a reptile. If your girlfriend doesn't want to be mean to the mice feed your sav f/t mice. They're already dead so she can't say much or she doesn't have to watch. Our sav takes mice out of our hands. (Well...us holding the mouse tail and dangling it in the cage). She's never bitten us yet, you just have to watch her. She now knows what is food and what isn't. I'm not an expert by far but this is what we do. I definately would stick to whole-prey items though (crickets, feeder roaches, mice, etc)

~Katie
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2.1 Cornsnakes (Slink, Shadow, Suzie)
0.3 Leopard Geckos (Cutie, Lily, and Miss Piggy)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Sam)
1.2 Pac Man Frogs(Gordito, Spud, and Diablo)
1.2 Suriname Toad (Squishy & the Squishettes)
0.0.2 Giant Millipede (Mega & Mila)
lots of snails and fish...

Well to me you've got his cage temps wayyy to high...there should be a basking area and a cool side....reptiles need to be able to themoregulate ...hes got no choice but to be at very high temps 24/7...first you cant guess you need a temp gun or some reliable source to check his temps...his basking area should be at least 120 degrees...thats just an area not the cages ambeint temp...which should be around 85 on the warm end and about 75 at the cooler end....give him hides at either end....also 150 watts isnt really needed...try 40 or 60watt flood lights......also nomore dog food not good for monitors stick to his crickets an mice......and no eating mice will not make him mean...hope this helps good luck!!

Alberto
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Alberto

Well, i'm pretty excited. I kept the 150watt bulb in there, but I have the cage at 79F on the other side, non-basking. I also put a wood-half, for a hide-out, on the other side, the colder side. I just fed him his first mouse, it was awesome. I went to the local pet store, but first i talked to a few friends that bought feeder mice from there, they said they haven't had any problems, and I got the little guy and i was afraid to put em in there because I might miss him, i guess i get attached too easily.. heh Well, my mom reminded me of a little mouse i used to have named Bob, and she said that it was his cousin.. i didn't like that very much..

I got home and put him in the cage, Artimus was walkin around and playing in his water bowl, but when I put him in there he jumped right out and snatched the little guy.. I about tore my head off because I was so excited.. lol That's the first time i've fed any of my animals mice.. It was VERY exciting..
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.