MarkB or any other Albig enthusiast -

[V.hb]

Hey Mark (or others)

You mentioned that alot of shellfish are a good treat for albigularus. Recently i've been able to acquire an array of shellfish from clams to crawfish.


The clams seem awfully hard, the shell is like a bloody rock. Do albigs have the ability to get through the shell? do they eat it? How about squid, anything beneficial to that? If you can possibly post what kinds of seafood seemed to be beneficial for your albig's i'd appreciate it. Thanks!

[mbayless]

Hi Vhb,

Shellfish have alot of minerals, vitamins, protein that all animals use....clams? - the bigger animals can eat them, no problem, but if yure feeding it to smaller animals, use a hammer and crack them good before serving.

WASH all shellfish in cold water before serving - it should be used a 'dessert', not a every-day meals, except maybe to waters, dumerils, melinus, etc...squid are OK, but they may not 'like it' - the ink should be removed if possible.

I have offered them crayfish, prawns, shrimp, snails, clams, trout, fish heads, fish tails, whole crabs, sardines, anchovies, mackerel - that is as far as my memory goes on this....but other items would work too - if they like it, and they most likely will, give 1-2/month. Its good for their skin.

Unfortunately it comes 'out' smelling worse than going in! So beware.
cheers,
markb

[V.hb]

Thanks alot for the quick response Mark!

They would be for big (5-6 ft) albigs. I just felt as if the shell might be too hard, they're like rocks! But I suppose their jaws are like hammers themselves.

They eat the shell also? Or do they disect the clam?

Thanks again!

[Tim and Julie B]

I tried squid with mine it was a squid tube. It loved it! Although now that I think about it, it has never turned down anything I have offered! :D LOL I feed fish once or twice a month. Can they eat it more often. I finally got those rescue savs to eat fish. They looked at it for an hour before eating it. Same as when I tried to give them mice for the first time. I guess eventually it looked good enough to eat but they didn't recognise it as food right away. I am going to get some clams tomorrow that sounds cool.

[kap10cavy]

My blackthroat loves crawdads, he has even worked out dealing with the claws. He will grab a claw and shake until the claw is in his mouth and the crawdad is thrown across the cage. He eats the claw and does it again to the other claw, then he eats the rest of the clawless crawdad.
He does seem to like fresh trout, but it's expensive in Bama.

Scott

[mbayless]

roadkill works too - but it smells - they go for snakes, and watch what they do with a dead rattlesnake (be careful though as the venom can still kill if it scrapes you!!!!).

markb

[Tim and Julie B]

Originally posted by mbayless
roadkill works too - but it smells - they go for snakes, and watch what they do with a dead rattlesnake (be careful though as the venom can still kill if it scrapes you!!!!).

markb

Whoa crazy! I can't wait to see Julie's reaction when I ask her to stop for a dead quail! LOL

Hey Mark I have been meaning to ask do Savs or Wht throats eat scorpions in the wild? I am guessing they do because they eat other inverts.

[mbayless]

Yes, the Savanna/Bosc monitor eat the black emperor scorpion in the wild, and in captivity - and so does the White-thropat = BE SURE to feed them only African scorpions, as they may react to venom of N. American types; I would avoid feeding them scorpions, for nobody really knows how the scorpion venom - if it can penetrate their tough skin or not? - and feed them cochroaches, etc...
markb

[V.hb]

Mark, I gave the largest albigularus a large clam. She inspected it for a bit and then bit into it breaking the shell and exposing the innerds. She ate the inside then toyed with the shell for awhile. The shell disappeared, so I'am assuming she ate it, or burried it.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!

[mbayless]

Sure, Glad to help - it just occured to me that monitor lizards eat crayfish in the same manner as they eat crayfish! They look the same, crunch when you bite them.....and full of bug protein.....

markb

[mbayless]

Sure, Glad to help - it just occured to me that monitor lizards eat crayfish in the same manner as they eat crayfish! They look the same, crunch when you bite them.....and full of bug protein.....

markb

[M_surinamensis]

If you've got access to live shellfish... I seem to remember reading someplace (This is going to send me diving into books for the next week until I figure out where) that mollusks generally expell the entire contents of their digestive system on a fairly regular basis. Since most the ones we consider food types are detritus feeders and can potentially carry parasites or all kinds of entertaining bacteria; leaving them in CLEAN water (with heavy volume filtration and a nice powerful UV sterilizer for instance if you absolutely can't put together a single flow system) while live for a duration of time will result in the expulsion of most the nasties that they might be carrying.

I'm *fairly* certain it was originally brought to my attention as a way of providing safer food items for triggerfish. If you're shellfishing personally or buying fresh (live) prey items, it's worth looking into. If I remember I'll poke around here and see if I can figure out where I found the broad information and a more specific list of the durations involved for individual shellfish species.

[mbayless]

that is interesting - but shellfish for albigularis does not have to be a daily affair - now if you have V. niloticus and especially V. ornatus, then I think it would apply! A little sand never hurt anybody - dont you remember those picnics at the beach on those gusty but wonderful days? You got a good bite of sandwich, with sand, and soda-pop w/sand.....
markb

[V.hb]

The clams i'am using are storebought. They're relatively cheap and very clean. (Have to be as they're sold as food) They're live also. I clean them anyhow when I get home under cold water before feeding. And mark you're right, coming out smells much worse than going in!!! hahahaha. Thanks guys, great reading all the posts :)

[mbayless]

Hi all,
I meant to say that how they eat crayfish is the same manner they eat scorpions.....and most monitor lizards eat them in the same way, here or there, and with green eggs and ham!
markb

[markuss]

hey guys i was reading some of the food items you give your lizards and to me it all sounds the same (make sure it is clean) "parasite free" so some ppl are saying dont feed them feeder goldfish bc they could have parasites and say to feed the lizard grasshoppers/locust ... well guess what Clams,crawfish,catipillers,grasshopers can all have parasites too so should i ignore what what has been said and just feed him what he seems to like? .... that would be a good show feeding my albig a scorpian.

[mbayless]

A woman in 1999 wrote an article on albigularis and scorpion feeding, and even sent me a photograph of it - locusts and all those animals have parasites and bacteria etc, but Varanus eat carrion and that is disgusting, so dont you think a few germs would be ok? I do.

Goldfish are nasty and have salmonella and you want to avoid the potentially lethal pathogen 'germs', like salmonella and pseudomona, and cryptosproidium, and Haemgrarines (reptilian malaria), trympanosomiasis, etc...
markb

[M_surinamensis]

Just to clarify my earlier comments *slightly* (I completely forgot to even look for the source which listed specific times) a lot of shellfish that you'd be considering as a potential food source are detritus feeders, they live off all kinds of unpleasant things; many of which have already passed through the digestive systems of other animals once or twice. They're pretty loaded with parasites and bacteria that would represent varying degrees of risk to your captive animals...

The digestive expulsion was a longer process than would be addressed by running them under some tap water for a few minutes. I'm going to hesitantly say that most of them were someplace within the twenty four-forty eight hour range; meaning they should be kept in sterile conditions for that length of time to help lessen the chances of transmitting anything nasty.

[V.hb]

Buying them from grocery stores @ a cheap price reduces that risk I'am sure.:)

I'd never be comfortable finding any type of shellfish nearby and feeding it off. The area is far too "city" like.

[Tim and Julie B]

Wow a thread where I actually learned something, instead of look at todays cute pic of my gecko!

Hey Mark I have noticed that with my savs (They obviously were not feed a very good diet before I got them) that they see a food item that is new to them and they pretty much have to sit there and think about it for awhile and then they decide they can eat it. I would have thought they would smell it then decide it's food and eat it. But they sniff it, poke at it and look at it from a couple of angles. Then decide to eat it. It took one 10 minutes of investagation to decide mice were ok and an hour for a headless fish. The other still takes an hour to eat anything besides crickets.

[mbayless]

HAHAHA - dont you love it! They are pondering, "Can I eat that?" and then 'learn' they can..... you should have seen the reaction of my 2 meter White-throat when she saw my tongue - she tongue flicked my face for 30 minutes trying to figure out what it was - I would tongue flick and she stared at me, at it for so long = hilarious! They do learn, and its amazing to watch...no, we did not kiss - you perverts! (kap, vhb....) hahaha.
markb

[markuss]

LOL i would want to keep my tongue i think it would be more then a french kiss if that lizard grabed it lol. and i tryed my albig on earth worms today and he loved them it was so funny i placed two one the ground he looked at them licked it then bombed in grabed it then was swinging it around the cage then he saw the other one moveing and nailed that one two with the other still in his mouth so if you can picture 2 big worms hanging out his mouth swinging them around if was too funny at least now he seems alot more active.

[markuss]

Crap i got of the topic :P sry
so i should be ok if i get grasshoppers and clams, worms,crayfish ect.. as long as they are store bought and just take caution and clean them anyways and have any of you guys tryed shrimp? or lobster? i know it can be a bit much money but hey it is for my albig after all :)

[kap10cavy]

No perverted thoughts here Mark, I know for a fact, albigs are too smart to kiss that ugly mug.

Scott

[Tim and Julie B]

LOL Scott!

I am totally going to try the clam thing on Wednesday when I can check a few seafood places. I wish we had those large grasshoppers (locust) here I would love to see my tegu chase one around. I have never seen a quicker lizard. Not to friendly either.

[mbayless]

If you 'got crabs' - try those too! Crabs always taste good - even the ones not on your gf! hahaha

markb

[markuss]

LMAO!!!
Ill try some store bought crabs lol

[mbayless]

These shellfish items should be offered as supplements, as 'snacks' or treats and not necessarily the primary diet - cockroaches and grasshoppers, and hopper mouse here or there is good for that regimen.
markb

[V.hb]

Haha Mark! I didnt think perversion! i thought more of pyschotic! lol, If i put my face to my whitethroats id probably lose a nice chunk of it hahaha!! Must have been a real docile whitethroat? Even my most docile I think would take a "Can I eat this" bite!

[mbayless]

this female white-throat was docile, unless you were a bird or trout or crayfish which she enjoyed to eat - she did not like mice, and sometimes just crushed them and spit them out, and looked at me for more tastier food.

When she 'realized' I had a tongue you could see her 'cerebral gears' moving inside - it was hilarious to see her reaction. She was tame providing I did not pick her lard *** up - she was always calm and never bit me intentionally - BUT she did salvo me with quarts of crap everytime I picked her up for more than 5 minutes - and I lost alot of shirts/pants that way....not to say she was a 'lady' at all - I saw her commit murder of two occassions to other monitors - I was cleaning cages, did cage shift for 15 minutes = she murdered two nile monitors, crushing their heads and walked away...
markb

[Tim and Julie B]

It's funny I have stuck my tongue out at my wht throat many times (at least I am not the only crazy one) and it tilts it's head and looks at me funny. But I only do it through the glass because she is no a 'lady' either and may try to crush my head! :D