Milk for the breeders…

[Steeve B]

OK so your female just laid and she looks dehydrated, first let me explain the basic! Varanids are breeding machines; they will produce eggs after eggs after eggs if you give them a chance. Trouble shooting; why who’d they stop producing? No1; food and minerals no2; environmental stress. That’s it don’t search for anything else.

If you got your monitors to produce viable eggs and she looks like hell, you probably have way to dry environment, try reducing basking and see how she behave after her next clutch. Also give milk to your gravid varanids, I know they don’t drink milk in nature, but this isn’t nature and it will help her with body fat and calcium needed for egg production. Now these are excellent advising it’s up to you to use it or not, I have so for many years and know the benefits.

Well kept females will lay without any detriment, in fact they may look as if they never laid, and this clutch after clutch.
Rgds

[V.hb]

Steve, how do you recommend offering milk? out of a dish? syringe?

[asphyxia]

Thanks Steve, thats sounds like good advise to me.
I wonder how that lactos free milk would measure up?

Brian

[Tim and Julie B]

I would assume they need the calcium though. Interesting. Do you have to make it luke warm first. Wow your varanids are your babies hey Steeve. You don't bottle feed them do you? ;) That is just something I never would have thought of. Do you think this would work in other lizards? Maybe Tegus? Thanks for the advice. :D TB

[Steeve B]

The milk thing is something I posted in a prior post, I tot it went unnoticed until yesterday when a fellow Varanophil emailed me and said his female look like $hit after dropping her eggs so he offered milk and she went nuts over it, so he offered more and wondered if it was safe, its very safe don’t hesitate to do it, the only thing that will happen is your female will have more body fat for egg production, her eggs will be white and have good calcification, they will tolerate incubation fluctuation more so then lethargic eggs most often seen in herpetoculture witch have a lower hatch rates.
Rgds

[V.hb]

Steeve, interesting although I still have some questions..

What kind of milk? Lactose free? 1%, 2%??

In a regular dish, like how water is offered?

[Steeve B]

oh sorry! yes in a dish about once a week 3.25% milk, as for lactose or cow protain unless your varanid is alergic then plain old homo milk will do fine.
Rgds