Savannah Monitor

Discussion in 'Monitors & Tegus' started by BMK, Nov 14, 2004.

  1. BMK

    BMK Embryo

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    I have a Savannah he's about a year and a half old, he measures about two feet long. I keep him in a 65 gal tank. Question is how often should I feed him? I currently feed him once or twice a week. He loves turkey burger, mixed with monitor canned food. I've seen a few large Savies on this sight that are around two years old. Larger than mine. Any input would be great. Thanks
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. biochic

    biochic Well-Known Member

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    Monitors are known to become obese easily in captivity. So you really have to watch to make sure the diet isn't high in fat. You also want to make sure that the canned diet food is not too high in protein which can be dangerous as well. Also, it's not so much how often you feed him as how much you feed him each time that's the big issue. These guys can be pigs. I'm not too sure how good turkey burger is for savies...never known anyone to use it before, but I don't think it would hurt - low in fat, lower in protein than red meat. I have heard others say that their diet should be high in insects or exclusively insects but I don't really agree with that. I would offer some rodents in the diet. Depending on size, maybe one mouse a week or so. Like I said, I think it's a matter of people overfeeding. Smaller amounts more often is best for most captive animals. You can try insects if you like, but most will probably be too small to be nutritional and your savie may not even think of them as food if he's neve had them.
    Hopefully some of our other sav owners will be able to offer some more advice.
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. lonewulf

    lonewulf Embryo

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    I have a 4 month old sav right now and he eats like mad .. I was told that you can judge how much to feed your monitor by looking at the base of his tail behind the legs , that is where his fat stores are ... thus the larger the tail base the more fat he has and the less he need to be fed ...

    from what I have been told he should be getting a couple of mice two or three times a week ..

    hope this helps
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. BMK

    BMK Embryo

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    Thanks for the responses. I do feed him crickets once every two weeks or so, strictly for the excercise. That and the entertainment. Thanks again.
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    if you want your monitor to get exercise then you can put him on a leash or a reptile harness and spike the other end of the leash into the dirt or tie it to something and let him run around while you keep an eye on him. as for feeding at two feet long an 1.5years old he should be fed 2mice every other day. although people are probably going to get on my cse for saying this... you can give him live mice and they usually run around for a decent amount of time before the monitor kills them. if you are worried about the mice injuring the monitor dont worry. monitors hides are extremely tough and for a mouse to chew through it would take a good amount of time. my sav is about 4 or 5months old and is already 18inches long. i have read that at 14 months of age a savn should be around 3.5 to 4feet long. i would suggest stopping the canned monitor food because a lot of that commercial stuff isnt good anyway. if you want to offer a variety i would recommend: mice, ground turkey, chicken, crayfish, and feeder fish called comets.
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. biochic

    biochic Well-Known Member

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    Don't feed live. Injury CAN occur and it's unnecessarily cruel to the prey to have it chased around for no reason. Fresh killed of F/T is best.
     
  12. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    injury can occur but the rates aren't very high. monitors have very tough hides and the mouse would have to be sitting there working on chewing through it while the monitor just sits there and relaxes. and how is feeding a live mouse different from feeding live crickets? they are both living and are both killed and then eaten. (if that last sentence sounds snotty that was not my intention)
     
  13. Ed_r

    Ed_r Member

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    Live mice can carry parasites that can take up host in your monitor. Feeding f/t mice will almost totally eliminate the parasite risk. Plus even if you feed f/t you can still get your monitor to excesize, just run the mouse around the cage on hemostats, your monitor won't know the difference.

    Crickets dont harbor parasites that are compatable with reptiles.
     
  14. biochic

    biochic Well-Known Member

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    Why take an unneccesary risk? And a rodent's bite can actually tear through a monitor's skin fairly easily. Those incisors are specifically meant for slicing through tough things. Crickets however, usually do not choose to bite an animal directly but will attempt to eat off of open sores or cuts.
    Add that to the reasons Ed just gave and you have it: don't feed live.
     
  15. KaMiKaZeE

    KaMiKaZeE Member

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    I do think f/t is better if for no other reason than the parasite risk. Anyway, I do think you are not feeding often enough at once or twice a week. Feed every other day or even once a day as long as the portions are smaller. Your monitor is probably really hungry waiting around a whole week to get fed. I know mine gets moody if he doesn't get fed once a day. I have a sav that is almost 1 yr old and I feed him 6 big crickets and 6 2" pond comets (goldfish) every day and he is happy, healthy, and not obese. I keep mine on seafood and insects, with only small amounts of other things thrown in from time to time for variety.

    EDIT- Also I wanted to point out that a 65 gal is not big enough for a monitor that size. The cage should be at least 1 tbl wide (total body length including tail) by 2 tbl long by 1.5 tbl tall and that is as a bare minimum. More is better. Since he is already pretty big, I reccomend building his permanent enclosure at this time and letting him grow into it. I would reccomend a 4ft x 8ft x 6ft enclosure as a minimum for his permanent home.
     
  16. Xandras_Zoo

    Xandras_Zoo Embryo

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    I read that you could feed a Savannah monitor a ground turkey mixture with calcium and stuff. Of course, I only discovered these things last night, but that's what I found.
    As far as the cage, an 8' x 4' cage for one of these guys? How big do they grow?
     
  17. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    they can reach up to 5ft but usualy average out at 4.5
     
  18. Albino_Hendrix

    Albino_Hendrix Embryo

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    k

    yeah dude my savannah monitor is 14 months and he is about 34 inches and ive been fedding him 2 LIVE!! mice every wednesday and saturday sence he was big enough to eat a mouse. but live mice and rats not a problem. first how will a mouse or rat bred in a pet store or my own home gunna have parasites..very unlikely. and another thing my monitor when he eats mice now he hits them with such a force it knocks them on their *edited* and my monitor can swallow even the biggest mouse whole with out even killing it first. now with rats biting could be a problem. ive have actually seen this happen...my savannah grabed a medium sized rat right behind the shoulder the rat went to turn and bite him on the face and before he could my monitor threw it about 6 inches till it smack up agaist the wall then he grabbed it again before the rat could even get up and he grabbed it by its back legs and smacked it head but agaist the wall of the cage till it died...

    monitors are not dumb..they know if somethin has the potential to hurt them so they use thier heads to find away to take it down with out gettin bite themselves.
     
  19. dan420

    dan420 Member

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    Monitors may not be dumb....but mice are. If a mice begins nibbling on some poo...and your monitor eats that mouse, it also just ate some mouse , which is not healthy and could potentially get your monitor sick. I am not saying whether you should feed f/t or live or fresh killed or whatever you want, im just saying how a mouse could potentially carry parasites.
     
  20. biochic

    biochic Well-Known Member

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    Any animal can harbor parasites. Even the most thoroughly inspected labs can end up with parasites in their rodent colonies so I hardly believe that some half pint pet shop can possibly keep their stocks perfectly free of parasites. Any live animal can bite at any time and cause any amount of damage. Even the smallest cut can become infected. Feed whatever you like, no one can stop you, but most of us recommend not feeding live prey for the reasons already listed.
    So for future reference, keep your posts polite and clean. It's okay to disagree, but let's not be argumentative.
     
  21. FertGirl

    FertGirl New Member

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    LMAO!!! Savs eat poisenes snakes in the wild.....a little tiny pmouse doesn't bother them....a few scratches......but if you insist, pre-killed frozen feeders are good.

    As for how much, at 25'' my sav eats 4 mice (mixed sizes, usuly hoppers) every other day.... i plan to do this until 30'', when i slow the amopunt down a little to keep my sav in shape, i also walk him, loves it :(
     
  22. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    are you trying to start a fight by laughing at a HIGHLY experienced person? why are you bringing up such old posts anyway? one person says feed live another says feed pre-killed. as long as you monitor your animal eating it really doesnt matter
     
  23. FertGirl

    FertGirl New Member

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    True...*looks to the side*..just had to make a point...
     
  24. varanus_rex

    varanus_rex Embryo

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    i have a 6 ft savanna who lives in a greenhouse outside eats 2 rabbits a week. mace, rats, rabbits all have the teeth to do do damage but i have never seen any of them alive long enough to do any real damage. they will find a way to kill it fast so they eat it asap i even seen my 4 footer drown one in his koi pond once. most diseases and parasites cannot transfer from mammal to reptile including rabies due to something with their immune systems. most pet shops breed their own mice and rats there in the shop so disease isnt really introduced into the environment. mine personally like the hunt it keeps them sharp, and relatively decent sized still obese though thats just the way they are. they dont even acknowledge pre-killed
     
  25. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    my sav did that every once in a while with mice and his water bowl. they are very intellegent animals and are aggressive hunters. they know where to get the animal so it will not hurt them, but do damage to the prey
     

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