Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I give my asian water monitor a tiny mouse with a dozen crickets. This way he gets calcium and protein from the mouse, and other nutrients from the crickets. It takes him about 10 minutes to eat all of this.

My dunierllis monitor is very picky. He doesn't like crickets, so I give him a large mouse.

I always knockout the mice before I feed them to the monitors to avoid bites.

I want my monitors to grow as fast as they can, and be heathly.
Should I feed them every 3 days?

*sigh* Feed them as much as they can eat, don't put them on a diet. Just try to mix it up alittle.
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Would it be the same for Albigs and Savs? they might become into round, scaly balls if we give them as much as they CAN eat*lol*
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2.2.0 RES (Bowser, Angela, Leo, April)
1.0.0 V. Albigularis (Godzilla)
1.0.0 Z. Quadrilineatus (Yago)
1.0.0 Python Regius (Kaa)
1.0.0 Cat (Garfield)

the following information has been lifted from www.varanus.net

"4.0 What can I feed my monitor in captivity?

In captivity the most common prey offered to monitors are crickets and mice. The larger species of monitors can easily take rats as well, though smaller food items may beneficial . Various other insects can also be offered. Hissing roaches (as well as other roach species) are becoming more popular due partially to their large adult size and their prolific reproduction. Superworms, meal worms, silk worms, stick insects, fish, crustaceans and snails are also commonly offered.

Whenever possible one should offer whole prey rather than any processed diet. Dog food is offered by some people however it is my belief this is not a good food source. There is no roughage in dog food and this leads to runny stools. At best dog food may be used as an emergency backup if no other food items are available.

Some believe a varied diet is necessary or in some way beneficial to captive monitors. There is no real proof either for or against this. Having fed just about everything to some of my monitors and mice/cricket diet to others, I have seen no difference.

4.1 How often does a monitor need to eat?

This depends on many factors. A growing monitor should be feed everyday or every other day. For hatchlings I recommend feeding enough crickets or other insects, of appropriate sizes, until the monitor no longer shows interest eating. Then throw in a few more so it has something to eat if it becomes hungry later in the day. The size of the prey should be adjusted to the size of the monitor as it grows. I also have had success feeding chopped up mice to small/young monitors. Smaller prey items are easier and more efficient for a monitor to digest. As your monitor begins to slow down in growth, feeding should also slow down so that the monitor does not become obese.

Some argue that feeding mice can be harmful and cause impactions in the digestive tract of the monitor. Impactions only happen as a result of poor husbandry, not due to diet. Dehydration and inadequate temps are the causes of impactions. Monitors have very effective digestive systems and when they have access to proper heat (130 degrees ) their metabolism becomes high enough to digest anything. Proper hydration is also important for digestion. If the monitor becomes dehydrated its urates will become large and solidified which make them difficult to pass. This is due to the monitor trying to utilize all the available moisture in its system.

4.2 How do I give food to my monitor safely?

Most monitors will accept live or dead prey without hesitation. The easiest way to feed them would be to throw the prey into the cage. If you must jiggle pre-killed prey in front of your monitor then you should not do it by hand. The monitor can easily miss the food or mistake your hand for food. You should get a long pair of tongs and offer the food from them. Monitors also remember where their last meal came from. If it came from your hand then the next time you stick your hand in their cage they may think it has food and you will get bit. However, this can be used to your advantage.

4.3 Should I feed live or pre-killed food?

This is really up to you. Insects should be offered live as there is no reason not too and monitors tend to ignore dead insects. However in my experience monitors will readily take pre-killed or live rodents. Live food offers a chance for your monitor to get exercise while trying to capture the prey. It is also my belief that monitors enjoy killing their own food.

4.4 What about vitamin supplements?

Growing monitors need lots of calcium to support bone growth. A good quality source of calcium is needed while growing. The two brands I use are Repti-Cal and Miner-all. It is especially important to dust insects with a calcium supplement. Monitors on a mouse based diet do not need as much calcium supplementation as those on an insect based diet."

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When the monitor can no longer walk, only roll around to get places, you know he needs to go on a diet. Seriously though, when they are young(1 yr or younger), they can eat a whole lot and not have it become excess fat like adults. Just watch them and adjust as they grow. If that belly starts to sag alittle to much on the ground when they walk, cut back alittle.
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Your totally misunderstanding reptiles. Reptiles are not warm blooded and this is key to understand.

They do not make their own temperature, they acquire it from their enviornment.

Only problem here is, in captivity, you provide what they can acquire.

Which commonly results in undermetabolized monitors. That is, not having the right metabolism for normal use of food. Kinda like a human with a thyroid problem. Yes, these have problems and do get fat.

The point is, hopefully we do not feed them donuts and candybars, we should feed normal whole food items(if we ate that we would not get fat either)(yuck, mice and crickets)

A normal metabolized monitor is very difficult to get fat, they use their energy for growth and reproduction, Which is why they feed in the first place.

Of course, there are exceptions, like old males, post reproductive females, etc. But its a fool who lives by the exceptions and not the normal. Its very easy to control the exceptions, so why allow them to control you and what monitors do normally. FR

Okay, first of all, I just wanted to say I'm happy no one called me an idiot like in the past. But ya, I think my water monitor is metabilizing good, he bit me really hard today because he's probably hungry. I have a 215 watt ceramic bulb in my dunerills monitor's tank. I think he's too cold, he just stays in his hide box all day. I can't believe that bulb isn't enough to make his body temp right. A member of the Florida herpetoligy assocation who was really nice told me 90 was good for my dunerills. He said to stick a thermometer on the cage window and try to keep it around 80 at least. I think my monitors are pretty happy now, I hold them everyday for about 30 minutes. The reason I post all my questions is because I want to make sure my monitors stay healthy and grow normally. I feel a special connection with them unlike any other animal, it's really cool. Some people say reptiles aren't affectionate, but I think they are sometimes more affectionate than most other animals. Anyways, I'll start feeding them everyother day now.