Savannah Monitor ?

[Vigilante]

I have a hatchling Savannah monitor that is not eating very well. I have tried ground turkey and crickets. He has only taken a few bites and a couple crickets, is this normal??

 

[frost]

we need to know cage specs like humidity, temp, substrate,and cage size to be able to help you better.

 

[james.w]

Ditto what frost said.

 

[Vigilante]

He is in a 20L, eco earth substrate, 100 basking temp, 80 cool side, 90 hot side, 50% humidity.

 

[frost]

the basking needs to be much higher. 140 i think but im not sure.

---

you might need a bigger enclosure too.

 

[dragonkeeperblue]

I had one and he wouldn't eat Infront of anyone dust your crickets and toss them in. Your Savannah will get to them. Your temps are ok, if anything raise basking temp a little. I kept mine on play sand and gave him a tub to take a bath in. They often soak all night. Its weird several times I went in and thought he had drown but when I took him out of the water he was fine. He still does it. They really like pinkys also when he was young and small about 8 in he would eat 3-4 at a time. I would try giving him privacy when you feed. Don't know about using Eco earth I never did. Good luck to you.

 

[james.w]

You NEED a much larger enclosure, at least 6*3*3. At least a foot of dirt for substrate. Baskings temps of 125-145, cool side 75, humidity range from 55%-85% . Do not feed turkey, whole prey only. Get some dubia roaches.

 

[Tannaros]

You NEED a much larger enclosure, at least 6*3*3. At least a foot of dirt for substrate. Baskings temps of 125-145, cool side 75, humidity range from 55%-85% . Do not feed turkey, whole prey only. Get some dubia roaches.

You're suggesting he needs a 6x3x3 for a hatchling? That sounds unnecessary.

When I had my Savannah she wouldn't eat if there was any movement outside of her enclosure for the first few months. If she was hunting some roaches or crickets and something happened she would freeze up and watch everything going on. She became more bold with age.

I started bin feeding her after awhile - and it took her about 30 minutes to begin catching food after placing her in the bin, though I only started doing this when she was more tolerant of handling.

My personal experience is to give a lot of privacy while they're eating. Young Savannah's appetite should be essentially insatiable, and their insect consumption should be nearly nonstop.

Also, I have heard that most imported sav's are collected as eggs and hatched to be sold. That being said, you may want to have a check up to exclude any parasites. However, I would be weary of jumping on the antibiotic bandwagon and try to clear up any husbandry issues first.

As a note for the future - many bosc's have health issues with weight and gout. Offering rodents is fine, but remember they really shouldn't be the staple of an adult's diet as you run a risk of your Bosc getting gout

 

[james.w]

Tannaros can you post some pics of your Sav and its enclosure??

A properly supported Sav could be fed a diet of only rodents and he would be fine.

 

[Deac77]

Tannaros can you post some pics of your Sav and its enclosure??

A properly supported Sav could be fed a diet of only rodents and he would be fine.

This is the only place me and you differ on opinion not saying you are wrong at all because I've seen it work with rodents only but I prefer a heavy invert diet with rodents as supplements. This is a big debate in the Sav world haha.

I agree a bigger cage is needed and a higher basking spot 120-130 is what I aim for my hatchling was in a 4x2x2 cage until 2 foot long then moved to a 6x3x3. I also use mvbs and strip UVB but some say you can keep them without UVB. I had my Sav for 12 years before she passed.

 

[TeguBuzz]

I always thought their diet was predominantly made up of insects - but I don't have experience in that area. I have myself a black throat that I fed chics, chicken parts and whole prey. My croc monitor was on a strict whole prey diet. Not too sure about savs though, was always under the impression that they're strict insectivores. You definitely need an enclosure larger than a 20g, and your basking temps need to go up a whole lot more than what they're at. Push for 130-140 or so.

 

[savannahmonitor.net]

Hello everyone. Waves at James.w....

I would like to chime in on several points made in this thread.

Firstly a full size enclosure from the start is very necessary, with correct support a baby Savannah Monitor will grow at an inch per week for approximately the first seven to nine months, If you start out in a small enclosure, you will be upgrading every few weeks to something bigger.

Secondly it's a lot easier to provide the gradient needed for a healthy monitor with a larger enclosure. Attempting to create a basking spot over 140 degrees in a small enclosure usually causes the entire enclosure to become unacceptably hot.

As a test of the "no rodent theory" I have given my two Boscs as many rodents as they want to eat, every day, over and over, yet they remain slim, active, downright athletic.

I have assembled a web site of information provided by the worlds leading Varanid biologists including Dr. Daniel Bennett, David Kirshner, Robert Mendyk, Sam Sweet, Dr Burghardt and Michael Balsai.

Included is the sad story of my first Bosc monitor who only lived to be five years old by following what is now considered to be inferior husbandry practices.

I have included for reference purposes what a healthy Savannah monitor should look like, you will notice right away that they do not look like footballs with legs....

Not sure about these image limits yet.. just click to see them.

Kindest regards,
Wayne A. Harvey

Savannah Monitor channel - YouTube

Why improper housing kills monitors!- Quick link

 

[james.w]

Welcome Wayne.

 

[Tannaros]

Tannaros can you post some pics of your Sav and its enclosure??

A properly supported Sav could be fed a diet of only rodents and he would be fine.

I no longer have a Bosc and I have no idea why that's relevant.

It's controversial to say you can keep them on an all-rodent diet. Rodents are very high in saturated fats, where insects as a whole are composed of polyunsaturated fats. I've never personally met a keeper with a Bosc over 10 that's fed all rodents, but I've heard of some keepers having their sav's live happy for 15 years on all rodents. Though I have met quite a few 15+ year bosc's fed a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate mix.

As far as I know in the wild they feed primarily on insects which is why I concentrated my bosc's diet most on invertebrates with the occasional vertebrate like mice, or a fertilized quail egg when I could get them.

 

[savannahmonitor.net]

Tannaros can you post some pics of your Sav and its enclosure??

A properly supported Sav could be fed a diet of only rodents and he would be fine.

I no longer have a Bosc and I have no idea why that's relevant.

It's controversial to say you can keep them on an all-rodent diet. Rodents are very high in saturated fats, where insects as a whole are composed of polyunsaturated fats. I've never personally met a keeper with a Bosc over 10 that's fed all rodents, but I've heard of some keepers having their sav's live happy for 15 years on all rodents. Though I have met quite a few 15+ year bosc's fed a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate mix.

As far as I know in the wild they feed primarily on insects which is why I concentrated my bosc's diet most on invertebrates with the occasional vertebrate like mice, or a fertilized quail egg when I could get them.

would you take Daniel Bennett's word for it??

Monitors & Mice, The Myth Dispelled

No other biologist out there has spent more time in the Savannah Biome documenting Bosc monitors as he has.

The saturated fats are only a problem when the animal cannot metabolize them, poor caging is the culprit, not the rodents.

 

[Tannaros]

I'm merely pointing out the successes and practices of keepers I know and research I've done, in addition to my personal experiences. I have no interest in arguing with someone who created an account today and has an oddly similar writing style to another user.

Whether or not it's possible to keep a Sav on only rodents isn't truly the point. I personally feel that it's a good idea to imitate the diet that the animals we keep have evolved to function and thrive upon, and so that's what I suggested.

If the OP has any questions, I'm very glad the community has very experienced keepers to help. Though I do have to say the accusatory remarks seem unnecessary.

 

[savannahmonitor.net]

I'm merely pointing out the successes and practices of keepers I know and research I've done, in addition to my personal experiences. I have no interest in arguing with someone who created an account today and has an oddly similar writing style to another user.

Whether or not it's possible to keep a Sav on only rodents isn't truly the point. I personally feel that it's a good idea to imitate the diet that the animals we keep have evolved to function and thrive upon, and so that's what I suggested.

If the OP has any questions, I'm very glad the community has very experienced keepers to help. Though I do have to say the accusatory remarks seem unnecessary.

Now I am very confused, when did I ever argue or become accusatory?

This thread alone is peppered with misinformation, and I would be remiss to ignore it.

The very author who penned the research data indicating what their natural diet is, is in fact the same person who authored the link I posted none other than Dr. Daniel Bennett.

There is no reason for you to become defensive, I am only trying to be helpful to the original poster.

 

[Rhetoric]

Just as a side note, I'm very happy to see this thread. I had a savy for a little while and at the time I thought it was being cared for properly. The more I see on the forums the more I realize things could have been a lot better (he didn't die, he went to our local reptile man). I'm excited to read through the links provided.

 

[Tannaros]

I'm merely pointing out the successes and practices of keepers I know and research I've done, in addition to my personal experiences. I have no interest in arguing with someone who created an account today and has an oddly similar writing style to another user.

Whether or not it's possible to keep a Sav on only rodents isn't truly the point. I personally feel that it's a good idea to imitate the diet that the animals we keep have evolved to function and thrive upon, and so that's what I suggested.

If the OP has any questions, I'm very glad the community has very experienced keepers to help. Though I do have to say the accusatory remarks seem unnecessary.

Now I am very confused, when did I ever argue or become accusatory?

This thread alone is peppered with misinformation, and I would be remiss to ignore it.

The very author who penned the research data indicating what their natural diet is, is in fact the same person who authored the link I posted none other than Dr. Daniel Bennett.

There is no reason for you to become defensive, I am only trying to be helpful to the original poster.

I never said it was you that was accusatory, Ha. I'm also not being defensive, merely pointing out the purpose of any replies, as I'm far from an expert.

Anyway I can see where this is going. The OP has plenty of information to go on.

 

[Deac77]

I'm happy Wayne is here I send countless people to his site for info!