Savannah Monitor diet debate thread

[Jay]

and i still highly doubt a monitors in the wild eats whats nutritionally best vs readily available prey

[Little Wise Owl]

I guess 200 Savannah Monitors were just self conscious and decided to eat healthy that month.

[mo9e64]

If what you feed your monitor works,power to you.I am just saying you have more options-rodents being one of them.Someone explain too me the success of Prasinus on mice,they have just as much a specialized diet as Sav's and more delicate.

[infernalis]

Oh time for more quotes.. XD

The feeding of rodents to a Savannah Monitor is an increasingly controversial topic, centered around both profit motive and a profound lack of knowledge. No one is sure the origins of the idea to feed vertebrates to an invertebrate feeder, but it’s evident today that the few loud, dominant proponents of an all-rodent feeding regimen actually own lucrative frozen rodent feeder businesses. It would be worth it to maintain a healthy skepticism when receiving any information on this monitor, before determining just who has what financial stake in the purchases you are making for your reptile.

As Bennett observed, the Savannah Monitor is an invertebrate feeder and had fed on mammals with a frequency of less than .2%. If the animal feeds primarily on insects and mollusks in the wild, why feed it anything else in captivity?

The first argument is that keepers in captivity have a great opportunity to offer food items to the monitor that are “nutritionally superior”, an opportunity to give the monitor variety it doesn’t have in the wild. It is argued that rodents are part of this nutritionally superior feeding plan.

The truth is nothing but the opposite. It doesn’t take a zoology degree to take a quick look at our “success” in captive care of the Savannah Monitor and see a long string of obesity, subsequent health problems and causes of death related to feeding monitors a diet incredibly high in fat. If this rodent-based feeding plan is supposed to be superior, are we really doing all that well? Compare the lean body structure and limb strength of any wild Savannah Monitor with a tubby, fat-bodied, stick-legged captive, and it will be more than evident that something in the food/metabolic cycle is severely off.

The second argument is that the Savannah Monitor only eats insects and mollusks due to low availability of rodents in the wild.

On the contrary, rodents and many other prey are plentiful in the regions in which the monitor inhabits, and the senses of the Savannah Monitor are acute in that a quick flick of the tongue and the monitor would know exactly what sort of animal is at the bottom of the burrow it is peeking into.

The Savannah Monitor is simply a specialized feeder, unlike the majority of other monitors. It eats what is best for it, and what its body has adapted to eat, namely insects and mollusks.

[Jay]

I would not only feed my sav rodents but he does get 4 - 5 rat pups a week

[Little Wise Owl]

Here's the study: http://library.mampam.com/bennettbullchicherpsoc.pdf

[Jay]

cool where is your study

[mo9e64]

Little wise owl,have you ever considered availabilty or ability of Sav's to catch and consume rodents in the wild.What commonsense says that means they cannot digest and utilize them.

Have you guys seen any footage of wild Sav's they are not the lumps of inactivity that you describe but animals that are vigorous and have high energy requirements to sustain them.Contrary to conditions some give them in captivity.I might come off as a know it all,but is there no commonsense,maybe failure is because you're doing something wrong.

If given the conditions they require it would take huge amounts of insects to meet their needs(in the wild they can forage for food,constantly)Some people fail to realize their care puts the monitors in various states of emergency,thus they don't need as much food-and in the case of rodents store them as fat-till conditions improve.In the wild they only have this forced upon them in a drought.Can you imagine the available food in the rainy season

[Jay]

I assume most people feed them daily< w.e the case stop ruining this thread lol

[Max713]

Originally Posted by mo9e64

Little wise owl,have you ever considered availabilty or ability of Sav's to catch and consume rodents in the wild.What commonsense says that means they cannot digest and utilize them.

Have you guys seen any footage of wild Sav's they are not the lumps of inactivity that you describe but animals that are vigorous and have high energy requirements to sustain them.Contrary to conditions some give them in captivity.I might come off as a know it all,but is there no commonsense,maybe failure is because you're doing something wrong.

If given the conditions they require it would take huge amounts of insects to meet their needs(in the wild they can forage for food,constantly)Some people fail to realize their care puts the monitors in various states of emergency,thus they don't need as much food-and in the case of rodents store them as fat-till conditions improve.In the wild they only have this forced upon them in a drought.Can you imagine the available food in the rainy season

Have you not read the multiple posts before yours stating there is an abundance of vertebrates inhabiting the exact region Sav's are found, that they have plenty of opportunities to feed on them, but they choose not to?
You have been shown multiple studies proving Sav's do not eat vertebrates by their own choice. I don't see how you can argue this further, you have no leg to stand on.
Feeding them vertebrates in captivity does not improve their diet in any way, and offers absolutely no benefits. The only case I could see feeding rodents appropriate is in the case of an extremely malnourished animal, that needs to put weight on fast. Even then it is probably not the best thing for them.

[mo9e64]

jay0133 i don't know what you mean.But if i were to guess under proper conditions it's hard to overfeed a monitor in the proper conditions.Females especially for reproductive purposes.They quit feeding when they have enough-if conditions are improper they get fat and lethargic.
Not ever discussed on this site is deaths of females due to reproductive issues.Most older monitors are males-

[mo9e64]

that makes no sense if that were true they would not eat rodents in captivity.maybe they are not able to catch the rodents or abundance of insects and such require less energy you guys use one source as your bible-and ignore those that breed larger monitors on mice

[Little Wise Owl]

I think those who are adamant about feeding rodents to specialized feeders such as V. exanthematicus should do their own personal study. The first 5 years of it's life will probably not yield any health issues.

This is the same case with cats and dogs fed an inappropriate diet. "My dog's doing fine on grocery store brand food" but then later in life their dog is ill and itchy and they just don't know why.

[Jay]

i believe chomper would eat himself to death ill take some pics tomorrow and show you how "fat" mine is also when the weather warms up a vid of how fast he can run

[Jay]

Originally Posted by Little Wise Owl

I think those who are adamant about feeding rodents to specialized feeders such as V. exanthematicus should do their own personal study. The first 5 years of it's life will probably not yield any health issues.

This is the same case with cats and dogs fed an inappropriate diet. "My dog's doing fine on grocery store brand food" but then later in life their dog is ill and itchy and they just don't know why.

I like that kibbles and itches