Finally got my first monitor

[crocdoc]

Wilson, as I said earlier, lay off the chicken and beef, stick to small whole animals. Dust any insects you feed your monitor with vitamin and calcium/D3 powder, but you shouldn't have to supplement the mice/rats etc.

The problem with internet 'research' is that you can ask dozens of people what they feed their monitors and you will get all sorts of answers, but their answers are not complete unless you ask them a whole lot of other questions such as "how long have you had your monitor for and is he/she healthy?" What you'll find in 99% of cases is that the people advising you to feed your monitor chicken and beef haven't owned a monitor for longer than two or three years. Or if they have, it's their third or fourth monitor and the previous ones "must have been sick" when they bought it because they all died at a young age.

Here's the thing - monitors have evolved for millions of years to feed on small whole animals, so their bodies are perfectly adapted to cope with the balance of vitamins and minerals found in small whole animals. If you are confident that you can match that balance perfectly by what amounts to a Russian roulette of vitamin dust on cooked chicken and beef, then I can't stop you.

[Aaron_S]

Crocdoc beat me to it, but I was going to say the same thing about who you have asked. Just because someone feeds their animal that, it doesn't make them right or healthy monitors. Besides, your monitor would prefer the stimulation from a bit of a hunt then to just be fed off a platter.

[wil_son]

thx both of you.
so if I stop feeding him with chicken and beef instead i feel him with whole pinkt or fuzzy and dusted crickets? is that going to work for him? I want to give him the best food so he can grow in a healthy life.

[crocdoc]

Yes, pinkies, fuzzies, insects instead of chicken/beef.

[wil_son]

thx crocdoc....i will make his diet into whole animals now....but then....do you know how to make him to have a little more interest in frozen pinkies or fuzzies? seems like hes not really liking them...

[crocdoc]

Is the enclosure set up the same way still? Usually lack of appetite comes down to insufficient basking spot temperature and humidity.