Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello.
Question for you all. With all the recent savannah monitor posts, i really had to work up the courage to ask this one, heh.

I have a savannah monitor. He is my first monitor, I got him when he was about 5-6 inches long at a show. Right now he is a little less then a year old and a little more than 2 feet long. Eats great, and he seems to be a healthy happy monitor.

Now, he ate a small thawed rat this morning. One of my snakes decided he didnt want to eat this week, so I fed it to my monitor which took it with ease. I usually feed him about 3-4 mice a week. Would there be any problems to feeding him rats from now on instead? I always read on this forum and caresheets and such to feed em mice, but i was wondering why not rats? If there are any health problems to this please lemme know. And I apologize if its a dumb question. Thanks for reading

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~Melissa~
1.3.2 Leopard geckos
1.1 Bearded dragons
1.0 Hog Island Boa
0.1 Western hognose
0.1 Coastal carpet python
0.1.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Savannah Monitor
0.0.1 Sulcata tortoise
1.1 Ferrets
0.1 Chinchilla
1.0 dwarf hamster
2.0 kitty cats

Nothing wrong with feeding rats that I know of. It might take longer to digest. As long as your basking temps are 130 I see no problem.

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

Thanks for the fast reply. Yep, basking temps are 130-135. And, I wouldnt feed him as many rats as I do mice. Maybe like 2 small rats a week?
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~Melissa~
1.3.2 Leopard geckos
1.1 Bearded dragons
1.0 Hog Island Boa
0.1 Western hognose
0.1 Coastal carpet python
0.1.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Savannah Monitor
0.0.1 Sulcata tortoise
1.1 Ferrets
0.1 Chinchilla
1.0 dwarf hamster
2.0 kitty cats

With growing young monitors I have always prefered large and jumbo mice, more small meals are easier to digest and much faster, they have thinner skin and hair than rats of similar size. Mice have a higher fat and moisture content to rats by mass, but this is not bad. Rats take more time, and higher temps to digest.
I didnt use rats with my huge albig until she was 6ft long, I used mice and chicken peeps as the basis.