"Toys"

[reptiguy123]

Is there anything to give to a savannah monitor to play with and be kept busy? Just something to draw their attension away from escaping, and something that they won't ingest. Thanks all:D!

[skinheaddave]

I tried putting a cockroach in one of those hamster balls once. It was investigated and then promptly ignored. The best thing to keep them busy is probably live prey, though. I am planning on adding a fine mesh to holes in the enclosure to prevent roach escapes and then throwing in a few to keep them busy. They won't represent a big part of the diet so much as a form of entertainment.

Cheers,
Dave

[V.hb]

keep your savannah busy, thats always fun! invest in some mealworms and toss them into a big container of dirt (use a bit of sand to make the dirt finer) and the mealies will burrow, and your sav will dig all day. Dont use too many, as he will eat them all! but a few dozen is a fun treat, and supers are quite large. Good luck and have fun!

[mbayless]

Hi,
I used to put clean beach sand, vermiculite and sphagnum moss mixture piled foot or more deep in terraria and add wax worms and such and even sand fish and let them dig to their heart content - I found it alot of fun and stimulating for boh keeper and kept if I could devize ways to keep them mentally stimulated, as I figured boredom was their greatest enemy.

I did this same thing for my huge 5'+ V. panoptes too - and he learned to unlock his door and go for 'walks' around the house whenever he wanted....

I used a red ball that the savannahs roled on, repeatedly, as if playing - and I have slides of them doing this time after time... it appears like playing, but still to-date not sure it is/was.

enjoy,
markb

[V.hb]

Hey Mark, I've got a 5 foot male albigularus that figured out how to unlock his enclosure. I use a hook & eye lock for one of the doors, he gets one of his hands through and actually unclasps the lock haha its incredible to watch! To bad he doesnt roam the house, he actually chases my dogs :(

[SHvar]

At even 6+ft she was openeing her cage climbing out looking for me (when I wasnr there) then hiding under her cage watching the door until I walked in, when she comes out to greet me.
I had to lock her cage with a key lock which she promptly figured out how to rip the doors out of the tracks, which I then fitted better to prevent this. She hasnt done that for a while now. Her hobby during escape episodes at one time was removing every book or video tape forcefully from any shelf she thought looked comfortable then smell the shelf and move on. My ackie digs for lobster roaches all of the time, he has burrows and so do they.

[mbayless]

same thing with my panoptes - he would sit in the living room window or on couch soak up sunlight and tripod when I was around to keep an eye on me...

[skinheaddave]

What type of enclosure locks were these monitors dealing with?

Cheers,
Dave

[V.hb]

Hooks and eyes, they arent much of a lock more like a latch. Works fine for everything but my male albigularus.

[Dragoon]

I found that if you drag a snake shed across the floor, my monitors will pounce on it and shake it, spit it out because there is no snake...then pounce on it again...etc.

It worked great for when they squeeze under something and don't want to come out.... just drag the snake shed by them, and they come out running! Pretty funny to watch.

Ana doesn't remove books...she likes to squeeze in there and 'hide'.
D.

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[mbayless]

Hi D,
Hahahaha - thats a good one to keep them on their toes! I used hooks and eyes, and bolts, hasps, and they figured them out. Who says they're dumb?!!! Not I.

cheers,
markb

[reptiguy123]

Thanks for replying, guys. Dave, what should be a big part of monitors diets? I heard mice were bad. Then I heard that they should be the staple diet. I heard different things about invertabres, too. What should be the staple diet? This question goes out anyone, not just Dave. Thanks again!

[SHvar]

They eat whats appropriately sized for the individual at that size. Keeping that in mind they can eat copious amounts of insects to try to keep up with their dietary needs but they must be dusted with a high quality calcium and vit D3 source as well the insects must be fed a rounded diet that supplies the other nutrients and vitamins needed. Keeping this in mind you could spend a fortune feeding most monitors insects all of the time but most medium to large sized monitors wont eat small insects in any amount after a certain size they want something more substantial and more nutritious. Rodents, birds (chicken quail), and other whole animals can make the basis or complete diet of any species of monitor (in proper amounts) from birth to death, the diet is very nutritious, convenient, inexpensive, requires much less to accomplish the same results or better and does not need suplemented with calcium or vitamins. Even pinky mice are pretty high in calcium because they have it in their stomachs.
Ackies can live their whole life on crickets dusted with high quality calcium and D3 supplements or lobster roaches. I feed my large monitors mice- rats- hissers (occasionally), and chickens, while feeding my ackie lobster roaches.

[reptiguy123]

Where can I buy these animals (or can I just get chicken at a local grocery store)?

[Dark_Angel_25]

I knew a guy who would put a rubbermaid in the enclosure with goldfisah in it.. his SAV used to LOVE to go fishing....

[reptiguy123]

Hey, that's a good idea. Must they swallow the fish head-first as not to get scales caught halfway down their throat?

[V.hb]

goldfish are filthy! stay away from them!

I only feed frozen seafood to my monitors, you can buy bags of smelts for about 3$ full fish too.

Goldfish can carry many problems that can go right to your monitor! Just a word of caution.

If you must use live feed i believe minnows may be a bit cleaner, but dont quote me

[Sunrunner]

Lol this is one of the best posts I have read here, I have for many years wondered and tried to find things for my monitors to "play" with. There is alot of good suggestions I almost fell off my chair when I read the cockroach in the ball one very creative :)
Why all seafood? just curious? I have never heard this before but it would be cheaper :)

[reptiguy123]

When feeding fish, do I have to make sure they go down the monitor's throat head-first?

[mbayless]

The monitors know how to eat them, but if your nervous, behead them and the gills will not harm them then, but fins might! V. salvator has been report not able to feed on live fish underwater, where-as V. niloticus corals them in lakes/rivers and feeds on them underwater. V. mertensi also coral fish and Steve Irwin has seen that. V. griseus do not hunt fish persay, but do juvenile hedgehogs, and swallow them whole (juveniles do not have envenomated spines until a few months old) in and around water systems! I believe Dr. Wulf Haacke, curator of Reptiles of the African Transvaal Museum (Retired), RSA is doing a paper on this very thing of Varanus and fish foraging/diet...

cheers,
markb

[reptiguy123]

Thanks, Mark. I'm not sure which fish a V. exanthematicus would accept or what is not harmful to it, but I will definately consider chopping off the heads.