Purchased a Savannah Monitor

[Rikki]

Today I was at the Pet Store and saw a wonderful Savannah Monitor for $29.99. I have kept them in the past and could not resist the purchase of tihs animal. I have a 29 gallon aquarium to place him in with Exo Terra's Jungle Earth substrate. I am using a night and day heat lamp for heating of the cage, there is also a large piece of drift wood in the aquarium mainly serving for decoration purposes. There is also a large water bowl. A Picture of my new Sav can be found below in his holding setup which his cage is being prepared. I have one live fuzzy and two frozen pinkies for him.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/LandonCowling/Picture403.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/LandonCowling/Picture402.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/LandonCowling/Picture401.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/LandonCowling/Picture406.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/LandonCowling/Picture408.jpg

Thank you for viewing! :)

[lonewulf]

Very nice .. ditch the jungle earth substrate .. all he needs is dirt , about a foot of it so he can burrow .. make sure he has atleast two hides otherwise he will stress ... just a little advice , I have three sav's ..

he looks great good luck with him and enjoy .. most will tell you how they are bad to have becasue they can be nasty but I have three and one of my girls bites but is still handleable .. the other is sweet and my large male is puppy dog he loves to escape but is good tempered

let us know how you do with him ..

my webpage has alot of Sav info if you need anymore or want to contribute any info you might have ..

have a good day !

[BoidsUnlimited]

Awesome...but I didnt see anything about UV lighting. That is a definate I'd say for a hatchling...not so much for an adult though. Hatchlings main diets are insects.....which is why UV is needed. When theyre older and mainly eating mice, UV isnt neccessary, but I still recommend it.

I use to have a large adult female, and 2 babys :) I wouldnt mind getting another but I'd rather stick to a nice Ackie:)

[lonewulf]

A 50 watt halogen floodlight produces more UV than a commercial UV bulb ... but besides that there is no proof that UV helps no hinders monitors . that is proven .

[BoidsUnlimited]

Except that I housed my first baby savannah without UV lighting and it had bone deficencies......so I dont agree with you at all.

[lonewulf]

dusted crickets with calcium and dusted pinkies with calcium will cure that .. I have three savs one I have raised for the last year and is now 2 feet and no UV lighting at all .... I have talked with many who own monitors for years including Tony at BayouBeasts.com and he agrees with the UV lighting making no differance .. but everyone is entitles to their own opinion about the UV that is why in my post I originally I ddi not mention UV lighting as everyone has their own view on it.

[BoidsUnlimited]

yes everyone does. i only offered mine dusted crickets and mealworms, maybe that was the problem....no rodent?

if i get another sav, i will keep this in mind and maybe save my self alot of money on the lighting, thank you for your opinion lonewolf, i appreciate it greatly.

do you feel this applies with all monitors though? any that get larger of course

[lonewulf]

hey no problem , the no UV I feel and many others I know that it applies to all monitors , I know a man who breeds bearded dragons and has never used a UV light and has bred some of the biggest I have ever seen .. all healthy.

like I said though I am no expert but I do talk from experience personal and gathered from thos who are much more experienced.

Cheers !

[rrrrr]

I dont know if they need UV or not. If they do need it, dusting with calcium is not the answer. UV gives you vitamin D (D3 I think but not sure off the top of my head) which is necessary for metabolizing calcium. There are calcium suplements with D3 added available, but in general more calcium is not a replacement for UV light.

[V.hb]

THEY DONT NEED UV.

If your savannah has a bone problem your husbandry sucks. Sorry to be blunt but theres so much false info going around.

Talk to people that have successfuly reproduced any monitor, no breeder uses UV, not one. Unless it's unintentionally used by outdoor animals. which is a whole other ballgame.

[crocdoc]

I know of at least one breeder that uses UV.

Me.

That doesn't mean I think it is necessry, I just like to hedge my bets. It seems they can get enough dietary D3 to metabolise calcium, but I don't think anyone has actually tested it by measuring blood Ca levels to see if they are within the normal range. On the other hand, most people don't care if they are in the 'normal' range, as long as their animal doesn't have rubbery bones or any other issue, which is fair enough.

[Linds]

The only animals that *need* UV lighting are herbivorous animals, and even then they do not need constant exposure since they can store its effects for quite a while. Omnivorous, carnivorous, and insecivorous animals can be raised successfully without UV because they can properly utilize dietary sources of d3.

[Rikki]

Hello Again Everyone,

Thank you for your very helpful replies. I now about feeding him dusted crickets, though I am considering that he may be a bit large for crickets. He finally ate a pinkie last night, he is very shy, I was looking from the corner of the room and he gobbled down the pre killed pinkie in a heat beat, he did not eat the first one I offered him. Im considering moving up to fuzzies as he has taken this pinkie with no problem what so ever. I will offer crickets as well just to see what he is looking for, even though he is a bit large for crickets.

About the UV; as Linds said it is not needed for a Sav, its mainly for herbivorous reptiles.

Also; he is very aggressive, he will hiss when I come up to his cage and take off running. When I clean the water bowl or his hide box he flattens out and hisses for about 10 minutes. I have not held him once accept for the time at the pet store where he was a little jumpy to. I have not held him because I understand he is new and needs time to settle in; though does anyone have any 'taming' tips for a baby sav that you would like to offer?

Thank You.