Adult Savannah Pick Up

[black_sun]

I swear, I wasn't looking for reptiles... I, in fact, was looking for for a futon frame. Honest.

Saw an ad in Craigslist for a free Savannah Monitor that needed to be rehomed and sent the owner a message about being willing to take it. Because "free" and "monitor" in this area had me a little worried about who might end up with it, so I gave it a shot. Ended up being the person to get a response and be able to go and pick it up.

He's semi-aggressive/defensive, but seems to calm down into a "I'm going to hiss at you but you can hold me" state pretty quick. I'm hoping he'll tame down if I work with him slowly and regularly, but if not, still a nice looking monitor (he has a small kink in his tail and some scarring though). And I love the stare on this guy... it's an "Hey, you. Yea, you. I see you... go ahead, start with me." look, lol.





He had a lot of dried on shed, so he got a warm bath while I set-up his cage. He even let me remove some of the shed with only a puff or two before settling into just watching me.

Big, big fat monitor though... I think he's a little overweight, I'll have to get him on a scale at some point but not for a while. Needs a name now though... any ideas?

 

[andyjs]

Nice looking sav! He does look a little overweight, but I've seen worse

 

[turdfire]

very nice pick up!

 

[Death Pony]

He does look a little fat. Make him work for his food, he'll become much more lively. I've seen videos of healthy ones jumping for food. He has great markings.

 

[black_sun]

My husband decided to name him "Albert" because he's fat. -_- Now he goes "Hey, Hey, Hey! It's Fat Albert" around him, heh.

I'm going to cut down on his intake, he was getting 3+ adult mice/small rats a week... if he's going to be inactive I don't want to be feeding him that much. A little less food and a little more incentive to work for it, hopefully I can get him to be a little more trim and a bit more active.

 

[A. gigas]

Nice looking Sav, be sure to care for him right, don't do what most care sheets say, they are quite different from most other monitors, especially in terms of diet.

Yeah he's a little tubby, get him on roaches and other inverts, they don't do well on rodents. Much too fatty. Dubia roaches or Madagascar hissers are the way to go. Here's an excellent site on their proper care. http://savannahmonitor.org/

 

[black_sun]

I've found exercise for Albert... he has a huge interest in an old light-up dog ball that I had. He'll chase it anywhere.

We just "played" for about 10 minutes before he looked like he had enough.



[video=youtube_share;kvd40HruOis]http://youtu.be/kvd40HruOis[/video]

 

[crayfishguy]

hah we have that same ball for our dog...it smells like vanilla, nice sav and exercise

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Nice sav! So are you guys going to keep him or are you just holding on to him until you find him a good permanent home?

 

[black_sun]

Nice sav! So are you guys going to keep him or are you just holding on to him until you find him a good permanent home?

No, I'm keeping him. He's not a tame animal by any stretch of the imagination and for an animal that has overt defensive/aggressive behavior, I wouldn't feel good about re-homing him. I don't mind working with him to get him used to the idea that I'm not going to hurt him and trying to get him calm for when I need to handle and move him around.

Besides, he chases a ball. How cool is that?

Nice looking Sav, be sure to care for him right, don't do what most care sheets say, they are quite different from most other monitors, especially in terms of diet.

Yeah he's a little tubby, get him on roaches and other inverts, they don't do well on rodents. Much too fatty. Dubia roaches or Madagascar hissers are the way to go. Here's an excellent site on their proper care. http://savannahmonitor.org/

Thanks for the site!

Yea, I thought they were more an insectivore than carnivore species from off hand. At the very least, I figured the rodents had to be cut down, I can't imagine continuing the 3+ mice/rats a week. (though, that's not the previous owner's fault... they rescued it themselves and didn't know squat about it or what it really even was.)

I think the Madagascar would be a better sized food for him, but I've never seen them for sale en masse. Do they breed easily, like Dubias? I know where I can pick up a few individually to try and start a colony with. Though, maybe I could find larger numbers at an expos... I haven't specifically looked for them there. Though, from memory I really only remember seeing Dubias at the expos. Hrm.

Hah, just read that I can give him crayfish. I'm good... I breed 20+ species of crayfish, he can have the offspring I can't sell or breed periodically.