Hi again crotalusviridis, thanks for the reply and info!

There seems to be at least two schools of thought when it comes to feeding the Savannah monitor in captivity; one popular belief is that they should never, ever receive rodents in the diet because they never take them in the wild (not true), and they will cause obesity and "fatty liver" disease (not true either). It`s thought by some (many?) that that`s why they die in their hundreds of thousands (truly, it`s said it`s because they were fed some mice)!? Health problems are caused when they are not fully supported, in which case no diet is suitable. I`m of the opinion that vertbrates (inc. rodents), can benefit them greatly.

I don`t think in captivity a fully supported V. exanthematicus is much different than most other medium to large Varanid species, both diet-wise and activity levels, meaning they need as much food (energy) as they use (easy)!

I`m not sure there are any real "experts" on Savannah monitors, so few keepers succeed with them, perhaps because they`re seen as a beginner monitor which is far from the truth, in fact they`ve become "disposable" items, unfortunately (as have a number of species).

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