Hissers as secondary food source..

[Dom]

Hello,

I was simply wondering if it could be possible to overfeed monitors with Madacascan hissing cockroaches.. Is there such a thing?

I only keep savanahs and a water .. I feed them Hissers about once a month and pretty much as many as they want on that day. My larger male sav. (about 9 pounds) could eat up to a good 12 to 15 hissers in on sitting! I was simply wondering if there was something in those roaches that could be bad for them if given to many to the animals. I have heard they are a great food source but honestly I am not too sure as to how good they are for them.

Generally mine are kept on a strick rat diet with the roaches once a month and hard boiled eggs once a month as well..

How about eggs - how good are those too? Pretty sure those should not be given too often ..

Just wondering on a nutritional point of view..

Thanks for the replies :)

[NiagaraReptiles]

Under adequate husbandry it would be impossible for you to overfeed a Monitor (unless you were force feeding ;)) All my monitors eat when they are hungry, and none of them are overweight.

Hissers are highly valued as a food source for Varanids by many keepers. They are said to be high in nutritional value, but I am unaware of any presice nutritional breakdown.

Personally, I don't feed any large insects to my Varanids, though I'm sure they would appreciate it, I just can't stand large insects.

Well fed rodents are an excellent primary food source for any of the medium/large monitors and would require little to know supplementation.

Eggs are of no value, nor harm to Monitors (in small ammounts). If you do want to feed eggs to them, do so in moderation.

Best wishes :)

[hydrosaurus]

like jon said, its impossible to overfeed most monitors under good conditions....with adequate heat your monitor can digest about anything in any quantity.... a daily feed of anything in large amounts isnt the best for them, but once a month as much as they can eat is good.. maybe two to three times.

i keep all of my larger monitors on a strict diet of rodents, fish, shrimp, eggs, ground turky, and sometimes cut up chicken.
and if they arent over 3 feet i throw mealworms to them.

I keep them off most insects once they reach older ages just because it would take far tomany to fill them up.
hissers are larger so i gues they're ok. personally i dont use roaches just because they gross me out :)

[Dom]

lol tx for the info guys! Both fo you all keep monitors but not hissers .. its kinda funny ..

I find the problem with hissers is their High price but I can get many for free .. as for mealworms .. see not that I would not get into .. way too gross! lol

I do agree with the "its impossible to overfeed any monitors under proper care" but how about this one .. when u receive and obease monitor .. how do you slim him back down?

I have been trying hard .. Mine has not gain much weight but he has grown an extra 8 inches since I got him, a lil under a year ago.. he was about 2 feet 6 inches and wieghed 8 pounds an a half (its a savanah - male) He had very low muscle tone too.) He is now 9 pounds .. and measures 3 feet some..

Any suggestions guys would be greatly appreciated.. I think the problem with him is his crazy appetite!

Tx

[NiagaraReptiles]

Monitors are built to conserve energy. Unlike snakes which are opportunistic feeders, monitors eat when they are hungry.

On that note, just give you Sav a way to burn off his "stored energy". You can cut back feeding as he will have his reserves to live off of, which will slim him down a little. Just be sure he has access to somewhere cool to sleep (around 80°F is good) and somewhere warm to bask (around 140°F is good). On the same note, you should have activities for him as well. Sav's are burrowers, give him a couple feet of dirt to play in. Diggin is good excercise :)

Other than that all I can suggest is alittle patience. As I mentioned, monitors are built to conserve energy, so it may be difficult to get him to burn some of it off.

Take it as it comes. There isn't one of us online that can tell you better than you rmonitor can what he wants, and each monitor is an individual so there will be no "text book" weight loss program or anything of the sort to go by. Try some different things and listen to what he has to tell you about it all.

Best of luck,

[kkigs]

I started a colony of 50 hissers over a year ago. Now, there is no way I can count how many there are!!! I've probably spent around $15, literally, on them the whole time. What I'm getting at is, they are nearly a self-sustaining food source. I think that if you really wanted to, you could have several large colonies going and feed them out daily, they are quite prolific. And, at around 3 inches, it doesn't take all that many large roaches to make for a nice meal. My ackies go nuts for them.

The hardest part is the way the stick to everything. I only feed them out off of tongs, because they simply hide if you put them in the cage loose.

[hydrosaurus]

for your sav
purchase a 150 W halogen flood lamp.... I kept my savs at around 140-150 for basking.. they loved it.
make sure they have deep substrate for digging.
when feeding your sav try to burry its food, be it hissers, mice, whatever make it dig it up and run and chase it.


Hold back on feedings
if hes obece keep the food to a minimum and keep the exercise and heat up for awhile
youl see the decline in weight within a couple weeks.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Where does one obtain these Roaches in Canada??

[NiagaraReptiles]

Actually, all tropical roaches are illegal in Canada. Just as an FYI.

[Linds]

Jeff,
They are fairly easy to find.... Super Pet, etc and privately owned stores often carry them.

Keith,
I hear ya! The way they stick to my fingers *freaks* me out, so I will only touch them with tongs from now on..........

[Jeff_Favelle]

Cool! Thanks Linds!

[Dom]

Thanks a lot for the help guys .. Ill follow up on that..

As for the roaches .. there defently illegle - I am surpirsed petstores can sell them..