Savannah monitor care - Page 2

siz · 02-02-10, 02:46 PM

Some of your information is off...including temps and food etc, but I think that website covers most of those things as far as I can tell.
I'm at work so I don't have much time to write a big post out but our sav loves digging around, we have a several inches of outside dirt/sand/and a soil mix I bought (forget the contents ATM) and he's just a little fella. Temps, they can definitley handle higher than 110, in fact I believe that website says 130f. We feed ours a wide variety of mainly insects; roaches, crickets, worms, among other things, and not too many rodents as they are very fatty. I am not a believer of dog food as part of the diet.

infernalis · 02-02-10, 04:56 PM

That's one of the problems with Savannah care, there is so much conflicting information around, it's not even funny. (actually very sad)

130 degrees is correct Per Frank Retes of Goanna Ranch, however he told me mice are good staple items, I also have a dubia colony so Chomper gets to chase roaches around.

Pinkie mice are bad, they are fatty, but juvinile and young adult mice are not nearly as fatty as a pink.

Frank is the master of monitor care, just VERY lacking in people skills, he comes across as condescending and mean, but if you can get past that, the information is sound.

He said you could feed them nails as long as you keep the enclosure good and hot. (i know he was kidding about the nails) in the wild, they eat some nasty stuff at times.

I never fed him an egg yet, and he only gets to have a tiny packet of turkey dog food as a RARE treat. I also feed him lean venison (served raw) he loves that, and where I live it's free food.

emseeKAY · 02-02-10, 05:15 PM

i love savs they look so awesome, definitely my favorite monitor species! great picture btw wayne, looks like Chomper is getting big lol

infernalis · 02-02-10, 06:35 PM

Chomper is three now, he's a happy healthy lizard.

We just had him out about an hour ago, took some pics will upload soon.

I have some baby pics too for comparison.

siz · 02-03-10, 01:41 PM

Aw, haha, I love that photo. They are super cute as babies, I'll try and dig out some of Lector's younger pictuers as well.
There is way too much conflicting info, and I find most of what I read before getting my sav was quite old...alot of dog food recommendations lol.
Ours goes crazy over dubia! He digs egg too, but he wasn't as interested in venison as we thought he would be.
Have you ever cooked any meat or egg you have given Chomper?

Will0W783 · 02-03-10, 02:20 PM

I am dying to try raw meat and boiled egg with Sarge (Sargeant Savvy is what I named him). I can't get venison here, but I thought hormone-free beef cut into little bits would be nice for him, as a treat. I have a dubia colony I will be feeding with him, along with the crickets and occasional hopper/small adult mouse. He is large enough to handle a small mouse easily but I do want him to have mostly crickets.

Will0W783 · 02-03-10, 02:21 PM

Well crickets and roaches.

infernalis · 02-03-10, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siz

Have you ever cooked any meat or egg you have given Chomper?

Never, their digestive system is set up for raw meat and insects.

He is a garbage can eater though, if it moves, he will eat it, if it don't move but it smells, he will eat it.

During the summer when we take him out in our yard, every single life form that crosses his path, he eats it.

I breed 8 colonies of mice, 2 colonies of rats, and he has been eating rodent fairly regular for most of his life, and I have seen no adverse issues from it.

Crickets are a waste of time, too small to make a difference, and I am not going to run to the pet store every other day to buy 2 dozen tiny bugs that don't make any difference.

Those dubia get big enough that a dozen or so of them supplemented by meat is enough.

Mice and rats have skeletons, so he gets his calcium from them.

siz · 02-04-10, 08:10 AM

OK, Just wondering, I've definitely heard of people doing it. We've never fed anything cooked, except boiled egg. At the size our guy is right now, crickets are alright but you have to feed so many, lol. The one thing I do like about crickets is that you can gut load them with tons of goodies, haha, but otherwise I HATE the things. We sometimes get boxes of 1000 because we also have dragons and geckos and a chameleon, but the roaches really are superior.
Do you feed mice more often, or rats? Live? FT? From my understanding, mice are slightly more fatty than rats. Just curious, since you say you have never seen any adverse effects. Chomper doesn't look overweight at all from what I can see in that photo.
Does anyone have that link to the feeder nutrition webpage? It was on my old computer which has crashed...I don't remember what it was called, unfortunately..

infernalis · 02-04-10, 09:20 AM

I breed many mice and rats, a lot of times I dump a bunch of live ones in there, Chompie loves to chase them down, and (at the risk of being gross) he is very effective killing them fast, I hear skulls pop like walnuts in there.

I buy more frozen rodents from rodent pro than I can count, so he gets both F/T and live.

Lately my focus has been to breed really fancy patterns on my mice, then I sell them to a local pet store, use the money to get supplies and frozen rodents.

Occasionally I need population control with the mice, so I feed them off to Chomper.

Will0W783 · 02-04-10, 09:39 AM

Chomper is sooo cute. I hope mine gets as friendly as he is. Sarge is calming down a lot. I had him out last night to weigh him and measure out his dewormer and he was pretty cool about it. He just looked at me like he was sizing me up. I hope he decides he likes me..lol.

emseeKAY · 02-05-10, 09:39 AM

wow these things probably eat a more diverse diet than i do hahaha

Will0W783 · 02-05-10, 09:48 AM

Haha. Sarge ate two f/t rat pups last night. He seemed very happy.

allergenic · 02-05-10, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Will0W783

Haha. Sarge ate two f/t rat pups last night. He seemed very happy.

I'm very, very happy when I eat big greasy turkey legs and deep fried Twinkies at the Texas State Fair. It doesn't by a long shot mean either of those are good for me.

Will0W783 · 02-05-10, 12:16 PM

Actually rat pups are good for him. Sarge is rather underweight, and rat pups are less fatty than pinkies. He gets a good varied diet of crickets, roaches, and f/t rodents. Right now I'm mostly concerned with getting him up to a proper weight and giving him food loaded with calcium and other vitamins (which the rodents are). I will try to get some pictures of him and his enclosure up tonight when I get home.