Savannah Monitor

Discussion in 'Monitors & Tegus' started by w00tpwn, Jul 21, 2005.

  1. w00tpwn

    w00tpwn Embryo

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    I have a baby Savannah monitor and he will only eat crickets. He eats plenty of them, and is retaining his little belly, but I'm worried he won't get the proper nutrition.

    I offered him egg, a little cat food, small pinkies, everything I've been told they will eat, and he passes them by and heads straight for the crickets.

    Is there anyway to get him to eat the other food or should I buy a special powder for the crickets?

    Oh, and by the way, he's about 5 inches long snout to tail. He looks healthy and is very alert, but extremely docile.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. w00tpwn

    w00tpwn Embryo

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    Aw, I'm an egg. ^.^
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. rhinoviper3

    rhinoviper3 New Member

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    Try getting him to eat some mealworms for variety, the bulk of a juvenile savannah diet is insects, I wouldn't worry so much about the pinkies right now, on my juvenile niles I give them frozen ground turkey. (Maybe try some) And for the powder I use Rep-Cal calcium with vit.D3 ultrafine powder, or a similar powder, I dust mine every other day. My savannah loves roaches and grass hoppers. If you have never used the powder before I put a little bit in the bottom of a sandwich bag and then put the insects in the bag shake a little bit and then feed. In time your savannah will take the pinkies. Hope this helps
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. w00tpwn

    w00tpwn Embryo

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    Thank you so much.
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. snake_bint

    snake_bint New Member

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    At his age and size he'll be most interested in food he can chase and catch. Mine was the same when he was a baby. So long as the crickets and mealies are dusted and/or gutloaded he'll do just fine and move on to bigger and taster things as he grows.
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. LizardFiend

    LizardFiend Embryo

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    I think he might be still to small for pinkies.
     
  12. mutt225

    mutt225 New Member

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    mine was the same way i just took the pinkie and waved it in his face with tongs and he grabed it and now he loves em
     
  13. gadd19

    gadd19 Member

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    he sounds big enough for pinkies to me. what i did to get my cardboard? to eat other insects was, wait a couple days before offering anything. drop a few crickets in, wait till he eats them up, then drop a couple meal worms in. with powder covering them, they smell the same as the crickets to him.
    as for pinkies. try this. wait a couple days before offering any food. thaw out the rodent(make sure its warm), and place inside the tank near him. if he doesnt take it right away, leave him alone with it in there. a lot of the time, reptiles with picky eating habits is just because they dont like people around. if he still doesnt take it, wiggle it, and tease him with it. if its still no go, try a live pinky, and do the same thing. set it close to him, and or, leave the room. let us know what happens.
     
  14. draven_defay

    draven_defay New Member

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    Just make sure you are dusting crickets and to a lesser extent, the pinkies.

    If you dust with Repti-Cal or somesuch, he'll be getting proper nutrition. If you aren't, then he isn't. There are no reasons besides calcium why he really needs the pinkies, so as long as you give him that he's good. Just wait 'till he gets a little bigger, maybe an inch and try to give him some then. I try to waste as little life as possible, it was rather disheartening when mine didn't eat his first one. I felt so bad having to let the little guy starve to death. I was a little upset about that, but about an inch later, he was ready for mouse-flesh :D .

    If you can find a praying mantis about his size, its great fun! He should also like grasshoppers, and you don't have to powder stuff you find outside because they have the right stuff in their guts already. I'm pretty sure the mantises can't hurt 'em, but make sure you keep an eye on him 'till its dead just to make sure. You don't want the mantis to get ahold of an eye or anything. Their claws and mouthparts can't penetrate human skin, so I highly doubt they can do so to tough scales.

    My savannah book say that there are reports that meal worms can burrow back out of savannahs because they tend to not chew the worms. It says that he hasn't experienced it personally...but just to be on the safe side, I quit feeding them to my savannah. He really seemed to prefer green insects, but now all he wants is mice. He loves shrimp but I hardly ever get ahold of it before it gets seasoned, so then its no good.

    In the wild they mostly eat insects and aquatic animals, hardly ever mammals. So you need to make sure you don't make him too fat, or he could get hair impactions.
     
  15. iLLwiLL

    iLLwiLL Member

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    heh, mine used to tear up fuzzies. he would praticaly catch them before they hit the cage floor and slam them into the glass untill they stopped squirming. iknow this dosent really help much, just fond memmories of butthead.

    ~Will.
     
  16. draven_defay

    draven_defay New Member

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    Mine still loves fuzzies. He eats them like candy. But he hardly ever gets them. They're more expensive than regular mice!

    Story-

    I grow my own mice. Well, not most of them, but I do breed them. I really needed to change the cage when they had babies (They always have babies right before I'm gonna clean it) Well, you can't move them till they start getting fur or the momma's will eat them (Thats happened a few times). So I waited and I wasn't real sure who the mommas were, but they were all nursing them, so I put the two who were most likely the mommas with the babies and switched two adult females back into the breeder cage with King. One of the mommas was being a real pain and moving the babies all over the cage and the other one was trying to keep them in one spot, so they were dragging the babies around all day and they squeal because mice don't necessarily grab by the nape and it was annoying, so I removed the one that was being a pain. Then, the mouse who was being less of a pain started eating the babies. Quite a few were dead (I let her finish partial ones before I got in there becuase EWWWW!) But anyway, my Sav (Demetrius) Scarfed them up like candy and looked particularly pleased with his "find". To finish the story -I switched the other momma back and also the one other female that could be the momma (But I doubt it). But apparently I switched the wrong ones who were lactating and then caused them to stop before I switched back. All the babies died except one (Which may become my new breeder) but Demetrius didn't get to eat them because I have no idea what time they died. My brother told me they were dismembering them so I waited about a day and a half to get in there (Because, EWWWW!). I took out my frustration of the entire fact and the fact that one of the mice was a pain and a fighter just moving her to and fro from cages, by "retiring" that particular mouse. She had been the major cannibal and I haven't had any other instances since, so she could have been the whole problem in the first place -well, at least it makes me feel better to think that.
     
  17. kcijmon

    kcijmon New Member

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    When I first got my sav he was about 5 inches as well and he would ONLY eat crickets. Ive had him for about 6 months now and he still will only eat crickets(dusted). Hes grown quite a bit in the time that Ive had him as well hes about 10-12 inches now and this is just on his dusted crickets. Ive offered meal worms, low-fat dog food, superworms, boiled eggs, raw egg, and so much more. They just enjoy killing things really. Even if he doesnt eat all of his crix he runs around and kills them anyway. About a week ago I offered him a F/T mouse pinkie and he SNATCHED it before it hit the bottom of his cage and Ive never fed him one before. However, as far as other insects, if they move around a lot yours will probably go for it but DO NOT feed any of your reptiles wild caught insects! Wild caught insects could be carrying many different parasites/diseases. If you really want to try other insects, i.e. roaches, look for a reputable breeder of feeders online. I order my crix in bulk (because I have 3 beardies and a savannah monitor) through www.reptiledepot.com. They seem to be the cheapest I can find and they offer many other insects. Hope this info helps!
     
  18. mxracer4life_41

    mxracer4life_41 Member

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    My savannah monitor eats canned dog food, crickets and mealworms and every now and then a fuzzy mouse. I don't like to give him the fuzzies because he gets too nasty with them. He literally will destroy that mouse before he eats it. I have noticed she does like things that move around more than she likes whats in that dish. whatever floats there boat huh! later
     
  19. cowtowncrazer

    cowtowncrazer New Member

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    hahaha illwill good story
     

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