# Savannah monitor diet



## Randolph XX() (Oct 12, 2005)

which is better?Rodeant based diet or Roach based diet?
my 2' sav eat at least a dozen hissers per day, and it is hard to feed him mainly roaches 
i've dug som infos online saying rodent based diet is not good for sav, so i feed him senior cat food, which only contains 3% fat but 10 % preotein(lower fat than those canned tegu and monitor food)
basically i just mixed everything i could get from Chicken hearts, frozen mice, roaches(discoids, fuscas, hissers), and other dead animals in my freezer like old pedes, scorps, and a lill boa

any sugesstion would be very appreciated


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## Kayv (Oct 12, 2005)

Stay away from catfood and dogfood.  Give it a varied diet.  Roaches, mice, chicken, quail, etc.


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## mebebraz (Oct 12, 2005)

I had a three foot savanah that I fed rats, chicken and steak tips to.


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## Anthony (Oct 12, 2005)

In one word, variety. Best of luck, they are beautiful


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## Dragoon (Oct 13, 2005)

In my opinion, feeding 'variety' is just to make humans feel better about themselves. Since WE eat variety, and enjoy it, we think we're superior pet owners giving variety to our pets. 

What WILL your sav eat? Anything. 
They will eat TacoBell if hungry enough. They happily live off of garbage dumps near human habitation in their native countries. 

What does your sav NEED? Protein based food. 
Rodents provide this in a balanced package (meat, fats, vitamins and fiber).

Except for when I clean out the fridge of leftovers, all my monitors get mice. I keep rudicollis, and the parents and all the hatchlings I have kept are doing fine. One of the babies has refused to eat anything but mice since birth. 

Monitors are great garbage can animals, you won't have to waste any food or dead animals, but make sure you feed a good base diet. 
D.


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## EvanG (Oct 27, 2005)

Unless you can keep that sav outside or an enclosure as big as your house, you cannot provide for a savannahs foraging habits.  Therefore, if you feed a rodent based diet, or mainly quail, or catfood, or whatever, you are contributing to obesity and deviating from their natural diet.  Savannah monitors are by nature primarily insectivorious, as are most monitors.  Insect staple, snails, a very occasionally rodent, snake or lizard would be an acceptable diet for a captive savannah.  Roaches are the way to go if you want a lean healthy monitor.  Check out Daniel Bennetts savannah monitor book if you want more information about their natural diet.

Evan


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## Galadriel (Oct 31, 2005)

I have to back Evan up on this one. Rodents are not a good staple diet for these guys. Slow metabolism + rodents = seriously, dangerously overweight monitor. Feeding mostly insects is going to be a little less convenient, but the main focus is the animal's health. And DEFINATELY pick up a copy of Daniel's book. 

Good luck!


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## skinheaddave (Oct 31, 2005)

I'll just pipe in here because Daniel was only one of the pair writing that book and I want to make sure that Ravi gets the credit he deserves, since the majority of the captive info in the book was his doing.

Cheers,
Dave


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## Randolph XX() (Oct 31, 2005)

so how can i tell my savannah is not over weight?
Can anybody post a picture of a fit sav, and also a fat one, plz?


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## Nile 55 (Jun 2, 2006)

i have a nile monitor and i dont think hes eating right what and how often should he eat?


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## Varden (Jun 2, 2006)

My Black Throat monitor got mostly roaches and crickets with an occasional mouse or rat every two weeks or even once a month if I thought he was getting too portly.  To feed them on a rodent only diet will only make them fat unless you go long periods between meals.


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## Ganoderma (Jun 2, 2006)

rodents are not the best staple as said above.  some people think that fixing obesity is only feeding the animal every 2 or 3 days...i really dont understand how this came to make sense..

anyway liek said, insects are staple and rodents are treats.  also the use of snails is a nice one, they love them.  Not that i would use snaisl from around vancouver due to chemicals (lots) but there are "garden" snales the size of a loonie that make great treats!  Feeding them roaches is great, throw in some mealworms (the wroms will dig in teh substrate and help motivate teh monitors to dig).

lastly, dont listen to pet stores there.  they are all really pathetic, trust me.


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## Randolph XX() (Jun 2, 2006)

thanx kyle, this is quite a while ago
i have been feeding him staple mix of bugs (kingworms+roaches+crix=smoothie made my juicer) and occasionally boiled snails with shells
and i didn't get him from pet shop, i got him from another keeper who had been keeping him for two years
cheers


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## Gigas (Jun 2, 2006)

LUCKY GUY!!!!!!!!! i love them ! i suggest a mixed diet


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## Ganoderma (Jun 3, 2006)

ohh haha.  not to self, check dates   any pics?  i didnt know you were much into the vertebrates.


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