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07-23-12, 11:29 AM
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#1
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Location: Central New York State
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Soil PH & Nitrogen content
One subject I have never seen discussed about monitor husbandry is the quality of the substrate.
For instance Daniel Bennett mentioned once that nearly all of the Varanid feces he has examined in the field had a percentage of dirt in it and the minerals absorbed came into question.
The Savannahs are comprised of "sweet grass" from nitrogen rich soil and "sour grass" from nitrogen deprived soils.
Many species cannot thrive in regions of nitrogen deprived soil, One animal that can is the Rhinoceros who consume tons of sour grass and pass a nitrogen rich manure that enriches the soil and produces land that supports sweet grass.
These symbiotic relationships are the driving force of the entire planet's ecosystem.
If we follow the food chain backward, most prey items are herbivore / omnivore somewhere close to the bottom.
Slugs and snails (a favourite of Varanids) eat the vegetation grown in these soils, if you squish most insects, slugs and snails, they are full of green paste from the plants they consume. So any lizard consuming these lower life forms are also consuming the nutrients from the partially digested meals inside the prey.
So the grand question here is, does the quality of soil, the nitrogen content and PH have adverse effects on the health of captive Varanids? Has anyone ever studied this??
Weather patterns, temperatures, humidity & geological activity are the very elements that shape the evolution of species, are we doing more harm than good to the animal's overall health by removing them from the environment that they evolved to survive in and then placing them in an environment that WE think is best for them??
A thinking person already knows the answer has to be yes.
So is the solution to better match the substrate to reflect that of the lizards home environment?
It seems to me that most of the discussions about "gut load" are about calcium and vitamins, what about the nitrates??
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Last edited by infernalis; 07-23-12 at 11:43 AM..
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07-23-12, 01:13 PM
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#2
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Join Date: Mar-2012
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
Hmmm certainly interesting... thats for sure. one of those areas that needs more study...
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07-23-12, 01:24 PM
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#3
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
When I get obsessed, I can't shut it off.....
One day I may even find myself in Ghana with a temp gun, hygrometer and core sample kit.
__________________
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
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07-23-12, 01:32 PM
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#4
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
I even came up with a theory about the rodent debate.
Because the sweet grass regions support a far more diverse selection of animals, there are more predators to compete for any rodents.
Rodents seem to fare well in sour grass regions due to lack of predators (The maned wolf capitalizes on this)
So it stands to reason that the monitors are in the sweet grass areas, and the mice are in the sour grass regions, so their paths seldom cross in the wild.
Make any sense?
__________________
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
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07-23-12, 01:49 PM
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#5
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Twist and Shout
Join Date: Dec-2011
Location: New York
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
Quote:
Originally Posted by infernalis
When I get obsessed, I can't shut it off.....
One day I may even find myself in Ghana with a temp gun, hygrometer and core sample kit.
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Lol! Don't they have a weather channel or something?
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07-23-12, 01:54 PM
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#6
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoreliAddict
Lol! Don't they have a weather channel or something?
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Tell me this, does the weather service check the temperatures & humidity down inside burrows??
Do they pull soil cores and test for PH and nitrate content?
Weather is based on radar and satellite, so I don't think it's quite the same as the data I am after.
I want to know what is going on subterranean.
I would also like to know what the snails are eating, what is in the snails gut at the time of consumption?
__________________
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
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07-23-12, 02:20 PM
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#7
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Member
Join Date: Mar-2012
Age: 37
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoreliAddict
Lol! Don't they have a weather channel or something?
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Crap for monitors they use surface temperatures first air temps second.
Yes that does make sense... more research LOL
The sweet grass areas will also be abundant with inverts... the damp etc...
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07-23-12, 02:33 PM
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#8
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
I own 14 acres of meadow, and over the last 35 years I have watched it turn to crap, once it was abundant with timothy, clover and other forms of sweet grass.
Now it's mostly weeds, goldenrod, thistle, raspberries and scrub.
The rodent population has boomed. so the snake population has grown too... so it's not all bad, herping in the back lot is more fun than ever right now.
Apparently the mice like the seed from the junk weeds better than the fine seed from clover and timothy.
__________________
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
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07-23-12, 02:56 PM
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#9
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Member
Join Date: Mar-2012
Age: 37
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
I like weeds... any small scrubs started encroaching yet?
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07-23-12, 03:35 PM
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#10
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Moderator
Join Date: May-2008
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
That stuff looks more like small trees than grass.
Killed a couple hogweeds, But only after I brushed my arm against it, My skin blistered up and got scabby where it touched me.
__________________
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
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07-24-12, 09:43 AM
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#11
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Member
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
You could probably pay someone that lives there to go out and get the info for you. Why did your land go downhill so fast?
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07-24-12, 10:08 AM
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#12
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Moderator
Join Date: May-2008
Location: Central New York State
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
Quote:
Originally Posted by beardeds4life
Why did your land go downhill so fast?
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Mowing, no fertilizer, about 4 or 5 drought summers, a few harsh winters... Etc.
Birds bring in seed, wildlife get burdocks stuck to them and lay in my meadow and chew out the burdocks.
Meadows turn into forests if they are not managed.
If I mowed the whole field down, spread some horse/cow poo around it would snap back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beardeds4life
You could probably pay someone that lives there to go out and get the info for you.
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Where is the fun in that?? I sooooo want to go photograph wild Savs anyway, why not make it all more meaningful by including a field study into the trip?
__________________
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
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07-24-12, 12:29 PM
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#13
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Member
Join Date: Mar-2012
Age: 37
Posts: 442
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
Quote:
Originally Posted by infernalis
Mowing, no fertilizer, about 4 or 5 drought summers, a few harsh winters... Etc.
Birds bring in seed, wildlife get burdocks stuck to them and lay in my meadow and chew out the burdocks.
Meadows turn into forests if they are not managed.
If I mowed the whole field down, spread some horse/cow poo around it would snap back.
Where is the fun in that?? I sooooo want to go photograph wild Savs anyway, why not make it all more meaningful by including a field study into the trip?
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Exactly mate plus you know the info is accurate
I want to do that to... I hadnt considered doing soil studies into the bargain but good idea.
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07-25-12, 08:57 PM
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#14
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Member
Join Date: Nov-2011
Posts: 804
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
Quote:
Originally Posted by infernalis
Mowing, no fertilizer, about 4 or 5 drought summers, a few harsh winters... Etc.
Birds bring in seed, wildlife get burdocks stuck to them and lay in my meadow and chew out the burdocks.
Meadows turn into forests if they are not managed.
If I mowed the whole field down, spread some horse/cow poo around it would snap back.
Where is the fun in that?? I sooooo want to go photograph wild Savs anyway, why not make it all more meaningful by including a field study into the trip?
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You should make the land bounce back. You might be able to make it scientific so some wealthy person pays for it. 
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07-26-12, 05:50 PM
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#15
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Member
Join Date: Jul-2012
Posts: 1,236
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Re: Soil PH & Nitrogen content
Hey wayne. First off, do you know that the rodent population is sparce in the regions of ghana that daniel bennett studied savannah monitor diets? I was under the impression that this area had abundant snakes.
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