Savannah Monitor diet debate thread

[bighog85]

Originally Posted by mo9e64

Adult Sav's diet in Senegal mostly comprised of millipedes.who feeds this to their Sav or more importantly who decides what to replace millipedes with fish and crayfish,which are not part or similar to anything in their natural diet. And the enclosure is not the easiest part of monitor husbandry-there are alot of variables which Bighog attributes to diet ,which are caused by improper caging.This is the death of female monitors due to reproductive issues(improper nesting sites)

Millipedes are something I would love to feed to my monitors but my wife is SERIOUSLY against it, lol. She barely lets me keep the roaches so millipedes are just something I can't do. The reason I feed fish and crayfish when I can find it is that it is very nutritious without being fatty. Invertebrates digest differently that vertebrates do so feeding crayfish is a natural choice. Fish are just very nutritious. What I meant by the enclosure being the easiest part is that it really is a onetime deal. Assuming you set it up right the first time, there is rarely a need to do a ton of maintenance aside from water changes and such. Diet, when done properly, is often a never ending process of preparing food which often makes a keeper lazy. Why do you think those monitor meatloaf concoctions come up all the time? It is because keepers are looking for an easy solution to feeding a high maintenance animal. Wow, you just won't get off this kick of yours where you think that I believe diet is the only answer. You are getting desperate.

Originally Posted by Damion930

Lol sorry could your massive comprehensive skills not deduce my meaning without a.. sorry that's just petty and funny to me all I was saying is that u can't just look at what an animal ate and say that's the best food for ther health thers a little more to it than that and I belive that's somthing most can understand whether or not they keep the animal in question ofcourse it can be used to get an idea of starting point for a proper captive diet its just not a tell all because again they will eat what they can not what's good for them oh almost forgot.

Oh I can comprehend what you are saying, a little punctuation would just add some credibility to your posts. Again, it appears that a five year old wrote it and I don't know many young children that I would take seriously on a reptile forum. So what you are saying is that people know better than millions of years of evolution for what these animals should eat. It is not like these researchers went out and looked at one animals stomach contents and called it quits. They studied hundreds of animals and when any study shows that kind of consistency, it is generally proven as fact.

Originally Posted by Damion930

Sorry if the comments I made seemed offensive. Was not at all my intentions bighog I greatly respect your knowledge and advice even though you come across kinda harsh somtimes lol it dosent bother me I can see you are only trying to educate for the benefit of the animals

I'm not offended at all, I love discussions like this. I am fully aware that I come across harsh and most of the time I do it on purpose. If they as adults(I'm assuming we are all adults)cannot handle some harsh words, then they need to grow up. So no worries, I'm not going to throw a tantrum because of some harsh words.

Originally Posted by mo9e64

all the current monitor husbandry techniques were brought about by people who tried new things,they failed but learned from their mistakes.Just becareful who you get your facts from because i tell if this was 10-20 years ago he would have fought against alot of the techniques we use today.but people would believe him-sounds like he's done this for along time tell us,what technics have you brought to monitor husbandry.Without trial and error we would not see the correlation of calcium absorption and high temps-monitors and other reptiles can grow properly without uvb completely indoors

It is funny that you mention this because it just so happens that a lot of the techniques that you are proclaiming here are those that were "correct" ten or twenty years ago. You are wrong though that all of the current info was learned by trial and error. A lot of it, such as the diets for savs, was learned from these studies that I have mentioned. Daniel Bennett did captive savs a great service when he conducted his research and found that they are primarily insectivores. Fifteen years ago, most people were keeping their monitors at the same temps as snakes but we learned through research that they need basking spots upwards of 140 degrees. The point is, it is not twenty years ago so why suggest that the old ways of doing things have anything to do with our discussion here? I have been keeping reptiles for almost twenty years though monitors have only been in my life for about ten of those. I am not a scientist who has studied these animals for the last fifty years. I never claimed to be a pioneer of monitor husbandry so I'm not sure why you brought this up. I just follow the guidance of people that know a lot more than I do and then try to teach what I have learned. If you are just trying to get into a pissing match then just go somewhere else. Forums are meant to teach and be learned from and you are doing neither.