This opinion comes from years of my experience, along with others who have been at it r longer than I have. They also eat snails and birds among other things. Feeding them rodents as a staple will lead to healthier longer lived animals. Feeders that provide usable nutrition in a superior manner will lead to positive results. Also in the wild they do not need supplementation i. e. dusting to achieve proper nutrition. I can tell you from experience with green tree monitors that are fed predominantly rodents and birds such as button quail that they live longer, grow faster and are more productive. One male lived for almost 15 years like this and would breed. Most of ours live a decade or more.
We also use roaches, katydids and grasshoppers as feeders and while we have been selling roaches such as dubia for over 9 years now, for the larger monitors of various species all have done better on a rodent diet than a predominantly insectivorous one.
Also being in captivity is different than the conditions in the wild. The key goal is to provide them with the ability to participate in all life events such as hatching, growing, breeding and living a long healthy life.
There are people who spend lifetimes in the field and yet can not keep the same animals in captivity in a manner that allows them to be productive and their are people whose sole experience with the same animals have been as captives and have far better results.
What the goal should be is how to provide them with what they need in captivity. In that respect rodents are superior. I highly doubt you will find people who from experience in captivity that have had them breed and live long productive lives that can refute these statements I have made.
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