Savannah Monitor Feeding

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Keep in mind when feeding wild caught food that most parasites are host specific. Being that Savs come from Africa and these grasshoppers are American, the odds of the sav conracting a parasite would be slim. My main concern would be feeding incects that come from areas where pesticides are used. Those could do some serious damage to the monitor.

Another thing to keep in mind is that whole food items are hands down the best foods for monitors. Those canned foods may be convenient and monitors will eat them because they are extremely opportunistic and will eat pretty much anything, but it really is not healthy for them. Things like mice, rats, chicken peeps, quail, insects, crawfish etc. (depending on the species) are by far the healthiest things you can feed monitors and is what any established breeder feeds his animals. For savs I would recommend sticking with the FT mice. You can order them in bulk online for cheap and they're just as convenient as canned.

Check out kingsnake.com's or varanus.net's monitor forums for more info. There are all kinds of discussions on diet/nutrition with some VERY well known, world famous breeders on there.
 
Remember he/she is a growing animal i have looked after many and they all have done well with feedings every other day. None of them would eat that canned crap, but they all take defrost really well.
 
i dont know what "canned crap" others have used, but the best growth/health i got out of any savanna was the one i only fed a variety of pouches (canned food in pouch) of nutro kitten food with a pinch of calcium/vitD3. even freezing doesnt kill all microbes, so there is still some risk. canned is the safest way and if i had another savanna that would be the only option for me. in my opinion and experience it is the best for their health, and their health should be the top priority.
 
Again, you can do what you want. They are your animals, but I would HIIIIIGHLY suggest leaving the canned food for the cats and dogs. I have only kept one monitor in the past, so I have no breeding experience, but from what I have heard from all of the big name breeders (Frank Retes, Pro-Exotics, etc), the most success has been achieved with feeding whole food items. Whether it be insects for odatria, crustaceans for species like dumerills, or mice, that is what they all feed their stock. Others claim to have had success with other foods, but I chose to follow those who have proven to be successful for the long term.

For example, not too long ago Frank Retes posted in another forum about a goulds/sand cross he has that is 9 years old on its 52nd clutch and still going strong. It has never been fed anything but mice its entire life. These are the types of results I mean when I talk about long term success.

What I could best equate this debate to in the aquarium world would be the feeder goldfish debate. Yes, many people feed their fish feeder goldfish. Yes, many of their fish grow big, but is this really the healtiest thing for them?

I suggest doing a search of the archives on one of the monitor forums that I mentioned above. This subject has been beaten to death. There you can read about arguments on both sides of the issue and about the success people have had with each method. I respect others opinions on the issue, but from everything that I've heard/read, this seems to be the best method and is what I would choose to go with until someone achieves better long term results with the canned method. I would be very suprised if this happened though.

If you really want to feed somethign other than whole food items, check out the San Diego Zoo diet. Google the name; you should come up with many results. They have had some success feeding this to their animals, but it seems like a lot of extra work when you could just defrost some frozen mice and throw it in their cage.
 
Crickets are a great staple for young savs, but make sure you vary the diet. As long as you give it access to temps of up 160F for basking (but down to 85 ambient) you can and should feed it as much as it will eat. A good way to keep them is always make sure he can choose a light/hot, light/warm area, and a dark/hot, dark/warm area.
 
savanahs are sweet.......im thinkin of gettin a nile....but not sure wat u guys think
 
if you have the space get 3 rats, male and 2 females. the pinkies are as big as hopper mice and you'll have a food source that grows along with your savanah. also if you run into an over abundance of pinky rats and arent squiemish, most local pet shops will pay around ten cents a piece for frozen pinkies.
 
dovii88 said:
savanahs are sweet.......im thinkin of gettin a nile....but not sure wat u guys think
Click to expand...
Save your money on a nile .Hard to tame and get way to big.Go with a blackthroat or a red/blue tegu
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom