Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am soon to aquire a Sumatran Water. I am pretyty clear on the feeding requirements but I was wondering if there were any alternatives to crickets. I was looking into Zophobus worms but I am not sure what their nutritional content is. I would really rather have to keep worms than crickets.

Thanks,
Nicolas

think of crickets as fill-able peanuts and the zophobus worms as jelly beans with fattening cream inside...id rather stick with crickets as base diet
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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)

Sheriyar Bokhari

What about freeze dried crickets? Obviously supplemented.
Thanks

i'd be more concerned if i am able to feed this salvator in the long run. 20 years down the line, and rats by the thousands. concern about crickets or worms is trivial. salvator diet will be rodents for the majority of its life. by the time this salvator reaches 3 feet(4-6 months) , it would inefficient to feed it crickets as a staple, and rodents will be the diet of choice. -john
cybersalvator.com

I would not worry about the cricket vs. worm issue. The debate will probably not last very long.

The picture below is a newly hatched baby and its 2 year old brother. As you can see, it will not be long before you are moving on from crickets to something more cost and size efficient.

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^x^ Bloodbat ^x^
Monitors, monitors everywhere
and all the food they ate.
Monitors, monitors everywhere,
their parents loved to mate.

Everyone had good comments! I have to say though, John from CyberSalvator.com hit it on the head. Every year many people buy water monitors thinking they can provide for them. It isn't untill they acually get this guy to a nice size that they realize just how hard they are to care for. You can't go to the local pet shop and buy the amount of rats that a large monitor can eat every week (unless you are rich). Crickets will be a very short timed meal for a baby water monitor. Babies grow very fast and it isn't long before they are mainly consuming fuzzies and larger mice as time goes on. The enclosure requirements often get overlooked also. A large cage needs a large tub of water and a larger area to heat. The large tubs of water need cleaned (waters defecate in water often) and are not easily drained unless you plumb them to a drain or outside area. I am not trying to discourage you from buying one, they are awesome pets! I have seen a lot of water monitors come and go in peoples hands. Many get passed on by people that had good intentions and thought that they could provide for them. Some die, others get handed off to other people then die. I just feel sorry for the lizards. They are great pets but if you live in an apartment or such I don't advise on getting one quite yet. Good luck though if you weigh all the options and requirements and find that you will be able to provide one with eveything they need.