Can monitors eat parasite-free lizards

[reptiguy123]

I'm sure they do, because in the wild, they share the same habitats, but other opinions are accepted. What do you guys (and girls) think?

[Bartman]

If its parasite free, then it is gonna be bought from a store or breeder and if thats the case it would be an expensive meal. The cheepest lizard ive seen is an anole which some people use for feeding certain animals that need it (only eat that) and that was 10 bucks. I think you'd be better off just using mice or insects and things. As for the gact if they CAN or not i have no idea. Id guess ya just for the same reason you said but lets see :)

[reptiguy123]

Okay. Thanks.

[Dom]

In my oppinion

I mean that .. this is just an oppinion


They can almost eat anythig .. monitors are one of those animals that never cease to impress me .. but it doesn't mean I would risk it..


Ive know off ppl who would feed em there dead reptiles - like snakes and lizards.. some who feed em road kill .. and such .. I would not do it but I garantee u they can take it.. theres still a risk but one thing I learned is that monitors never cease to amaze me

Dom

[Gregg M]

10 bucks for an anole???? We get them here for like $1.99.......LOL....... I need to start selling stuff in Canada.....LOL.... Anyway there is no need to feed them lizards........ Most monitors will kill and eat just about anything you put infront of them........ For instance I kept V. albigularis in the past and all of them ate everything including bananas......... If it fell infront of them, they ate it........ You can feed a monitor a ham and swiss on a bagel if you want but it does not make it a good idea........:D :D :D :D

[Cruciform]

It was awesome seeing the Komodo Dragons on the Crocodile Hunter. That guy is such a whack-job :)
He's lying on the ground beside them, pointing things out, then has to run like hell when they start doing the head swing for "feeding mode".
They chased him up a tree :)

[ksg]

There was this guy who was feeding his monitors baby bearded dragons..

[reptiguy123]

Holy crap!!! I didn't mean that!:D The question was mostly out of curosity!

[Bartman]

thats horrible, hes goin to hell..lol

[reptiguy123]

Well, that's life for you.

[M_surinamensis]

Depending on the species of monitor, if you have a plentiful and cheap supply of lizards that you know is safe, it's actually a lot healthier than the really rodent-intensive diets a lot of animals end up being fed.

With very few exceptions, varanids are very opportunistic, but they have still evolved to utilize the nutrients avaliable in the most commonly avaliable prey items inside their range. This usually includes some massive insects and other invertebrets for species under five feet or so, other species of ectothermic vertebret and really small amounts of mammal or bird prey items. With some species the avaliability of prey changes seasonally of course but...

Most wild varanids are eating a lot more lizards and frogs than they are rodents.

When it comes to the nutritional breakdown between a skink or gecko and a rat or mouse, there are some pretty drastic differences- this is why anyone relying on rodents or canned dogfood always needs to watch the intake very carefully and why there are so many obese savannah monitors... Feeding a diet that includes a lot of really big roaches and lizards as some of the main prey items is prohibitivly expensive though, as has been mentioned. The parasite factor on most feeder lizards is a serious concern too.

Just wanted to add what I did so that nobody formed the misimpression that other lizards were unhealthy for them to eat. For any of the medium of smaller species, lizards would make up a portion of the ideal diet, it's just not practical when it comes to captive care.

[exanthematicus]

Of course.

[reptiguy123]

Well, that's for sure.