Adult Savannah Pick Up

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I think he'll like the crayfish. Their jaws are perfectly structured for crushing shells like that. What about eggs? Mystery snails would be a good addition, too. They breed easily, are cheap, and you can gut load them. If you can find them, lubber grasshoppers would be an excellent addition. They're flightless, massive grasshoppers from the South Dakota area. I have no clue how to breed the, but I bet they'd be a delicious snack for him.

Great idea exercising him with the ball. It looks like he enjoys it a lot, so whipping him into shape should be easy.
 
Death Pony said:
I think he'll like the crayfish. Their jaws are perfectly structured for crushing shells like that. What about eggs? Mystery snails would be a good addition, too. They breed easily, are cheap, and you can gut load them. If you can find them, lubber grasshoppers would be an excellent addition. They're flightless, massive grasshoppers from the South Dakota area. I have no clue how to breed the, but I bet they'd be a delicious snack for him.

Great idea exercising him with the ball. It looks like he enjoys it a lot, so whipping him into shape should be easy.
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I'm not sure about eggs... I certainly have met plenty of people that feed Savs eggs, but I remember reading in a few places that it wasn't recommended for them. I don't know how true that is, I'll have to look into it more. Mystery Snails might be a good idea, though snails often carry parasites like tape worms so I'd have to pick up Praziquantel to treat the tanks with. I don't now how long that stays in the water/snails and if it is safe for ingestion in reptiles. But definitely worth looking into, Mystery Snails were one of the things I used to rarely order at work because so many bred in our tanks, hah. Oh god, Lubbers... I used to make money as a kid ($0.50 a Lubber) catching those in my neighborhood for people who didn't want them in their plants. I'd like to see him take on a Lubber, I bet he'd love those! You rock for that idea, haha.

He really does, he was pacing his enclosure (the front is a clear plexi-glass door that he can see through) trying to get to it late last night. I put it in with him and he rolled it around and anytime he bumped it or really hit and it rolled away fast, he went tearing after it. He's not biting it or trying to eat it, so I'm not sure the attraction (maybe just the movement), but it's sure fun to watch.
 
Eggs can be fed on occasion, but there isn't really any benefit in feeding them, so there's no reason to. I'd not.

As far as feeding, just feed a variety of insects and on a lesser scale, other invertebrates.
Here's a good list of things you can try feeding:
Roaches
Locusts
Millipedes (Be sure they aren't too toxic. Savs are immune to most, but there are probably some that are better avoided.)
Spiders (Again, careful feeding these.)
Scorpions (You may want to trim the stinger before feeding if you use these.)
Hornworms
Earthworms
Crabs
Shrimp (Use the whole shrimp, head too.)
Crayfish (Again, whole thing.)
Snails

Hissing roaches are fairly avaliable (check Fauna) but they're a bit more expensive than dubias. They breed readily, like dubias but I'm not sure what their life cycle is. One downside to hissers is they can climb very well, even glass. So you would want to be sure to make some sort of barrier around the top of their cage/bin/whatever. Vaseline, roach barrier, lots of things work.
 
^Bad idea, I'd never suggest putting a monitor on a leash. If you want something to take on walks, get a dog..

If it's not full grown now, what exactly do you think grown up means?
 
A. gigas said:
Eggs can be fed on occasion, but there isn't really any benefit in feeding them, so there's no reason to. I'd not.

As far as feeding, just feed a variety of insects and on a lesser scale, other invertebrates.
Here's a good list of things you can try feeding:
Roaches
Locusts
Millipedes (Be sure they aren't too toxic. Savs are immune to most, but there are probably some that are better avoided.)
Spiders (Again, careful feeding these.)
Scorpions (You may want to trim the stinger before feeding if you use these.)
Hornworms
Earthworms
Crabs
Shrimp (Use the whole shrimp, head too.)
Crayfish (Again, whole thing.)
Snails

Hissing roaches are fairly avaliable (check Fauna) but they're a bit more expensive than dubias. They breed readily, like dubias but I'm not sure what their life cycle is. One downside to hissers is they can climb very well, even glass. So you would want to be sure to make some sort of barrier around the top of their cage/bin/whatever. Vaseline, roach barrier, lots of things work.
Click to expand...

Good thing to know about the hissers, thanks.

Well, that's a pretty big list with a lot of variety... most of that I can get pretty easily actually, though I think I'll avoid the millipedes and spiders. I haven't had to switch the diets of too many of my animals, but this guy has been raised on rodents. Will he still be inclined to take other food, or am I likely to find some difficulty when I begin to add in new food items and start removing what he's used to?
 
You may or may not have difficulty getting him off rodents, some become attached to what they are always fed, and stop viewing other things as food. Others just eat whatever moves. It really just depends.
If he does resist switching, don't give in and give him rodents. That will just teach him he'll get what he wants if he waits.
Sooner or later he'll switch, he won't starve himself to death. Besides, if he takes a while to switch, he could stand to lose a couple pounds..
 
A. gigas said:
^Bad idea, I'd never suggest putting a monitor on a leash. If you want something to take on walks, get a dog..

If it's not full grown now, what exactly do you think grown up means?
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I was kidding. :p just thought how funny it would look to walk a big ass lizard. But yeah, I doubt it would be able to comfortably keep up with a humans pace anyways. Although I have seen vids of people walking lizards, I wouldn't suggest actually doing it either. Shoulda put jking on my post, sry.
 
A. gigas said:
You may or may not have difficulty getting him off rodents, some become attached to what they are always fed, and stop viewing other things as food. Others just eat whatever moves. It really just depends.
If he does resist switching, don't give in and give him rodents. That will just teach him he'll get what he wants if he waits.
Sooner or later he'll switch, he won't starve himself to death. Besides, if he takes a while to switch, he could stand to lose a couple pounds..
Click to expand...

Well, we'll see how that goes soon enough. I have to make a run in a few days for food for the rest of my brood, I'll add a few things to that list to try with him.

Thanks for the added info!
 
Roaches and shrimp are usually favorites. To get the shrimp (and crabs, snails, and sometimes others) just stop by an Asian fish market.
 
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