My new Savanna

Most invertibrate feeders will work, night crawlers, mealworm/superworm beetles, head-on shell-on shrimp, whole crayfish, locusts, etc. Pretty much any whole, unprocessed invertibrate, is a go. Silversides (a feeder fish) are also acceptable. In all cases avoid frozen food items, they typically contain a preservative called trisodium phosphate; it is considered deadly for reptiles.

Thanks again for the info.
Do you think he is a bit skinny in the tail section? with my beardies back some years,fat tails were a good sign. This guy seems to be showing his tail bone?

He's still very small. I would not expect him to start building up any fat reserves until he hits a total length around 2, 2.5 feet. That ridge on the top of the tail is supposed to be prominent. If it isn't then you've got a problem (obesity).

Why is it in the sink? Please tell me you are not force handling that baby.

Thanks for posting the link Mike appreciate the plug!

Thanks Mike once a gain. I have been doing some reading on these guys since getting him and have not come across the back bone issues. Glad to know. I dont want to over feed like most of the Savi keepers in the general public.
He has come a long way since getting him/her. He doesnt stress as much when going into his pen. In the beginning he would just bug. I think its getting used to me,slowly.

Wayne,he was not bought to be played with or handled. He's in the sink due to me having to re do his pen.. He was ok with the handle for a bit,Then got puffy a bit.
SOMETIMES,we have to force handle our reptiles to make the best for them.
If i didnt force handle a couple boa's we have here,i would not be able to clean cages.
He was not hurt! Or stressed for more then a couple min. If i didnt have to handle him,i wouldnt have.
But thanks for the concern for him/her.

Originally Posted by allreptiles1966

Thanks Mike once a gain. I have been doing some reading on these guys since getting him and have not come across the back bone issues. Glad to know. I dont want to over feed like most of the Savi keepers in the general public.
He has come a long way since getting him/her. He doesnt stress as much when going into his pen. In the beginning he would just bug. I think its getting used to me,slowly.

Wayne,he was not bought to be played with or handled. He's in the sink due to me having to re do his pen.. He was ok with the handle for a bit,Then got puffy a bit.
SOMETIMES,we have to force handle our reptiles to make the best for them.
If i didnt force handle a couple boa's we have here,i would not be able to clean cages.
He was not hurt! Or stressed for more then a couple min. If i didnt have to handle him,i wouldnt have.
But thanks for the concern for him/her.

Addressing what you have said in order...

When properly supported, it's nearly impossible to overfeed a baby Savannah Monitor, I have never "regulated" how much mine eat, and they can pack away the chow like crazy. I have seen feeding session where they would consume an entire litter of baby rats, 2 dozen night crawlers, 3 dozen crickets and a handful of Dubia, and still want more.

The key is proper caging, With a nice hot cage, with a toasty basking spot and lots of things to keep occupied, they burn calories faster than an ADHD kid on a sugar buzz.

The link that Mike gave you is my site, and it is not only recommended by the top names in the monitor circles, but is revolutionizing the way people think of Savannah monitors in general.

The typical slow moving football with legs seldom live past a couple years, and that situation saddens me.

A well set up enclosure that meets the animal's requirements should be fully Bio Active, meaning it never needs to be cleaned.

I can literally watch the feces disappear in 48 hours or so as the bacteria and bugs consume it and enrich the soil.

So far, The male will walk up onto my arm, out the front and onto my lap and he even lets me pick him up. The female on the other hand will bite, hiss and tail whip in an instant. Pursuant to Daniel Bennett's personal observations in the wild, this is typical of the species, The ladies don't take chances.

I do apologize, but I do not frequent this forum as often as I should, but running around the internet looking for new owners is time consuming, and it makes me happy that great folks like Mike are out there pasting up links to my site.

I have subscribed to this thread to ensure that if you should have any questions or concerns, I shall receive an email that you have posted.

set that Sav up right, you will have a great primeval pal for years to come.

Thank you very much for this. I do care about all my animals i own. When getting a new type i try and get all info i can,from anyone i can.But getting right from the best source is GREAT !
Right now his basking spot runs about 140 ish. The cool end(where he deficates) is about 84 and gets warmer the closer it goes to the light. His droppings do not really go away until i scoop.I can turn my habitat into a living pen. I have all sorts of hp lights( grow lights) And fluorescence.
His basking light is an out door flood or spot light. I can also use self ballasted Mercury vapor lights.
My boa room runs around the 84 all year.He does hide under his stacked rocks a lot.
I am going to try the worms as i have collected many from my compost pile.He seems to be picky on the feed items,except Dubia or pink rats. His previous owner say he ate eggs also,but he wont here.I haven't tried soft boiled yet.
I will go to thte link tonight and read your info.
Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Can i use outside garden dirt in his pen? Is there anything in the dirt that is going to harm my boa's which are in the same room?
Ps,His pen right now is about 5' x 3'

depends on what you have ever put into your garden, if you have used strong fertilizer or pesticides of any kind, I would not advise it.

I did nothing special to get bio active, I shoveled up some nice loamy dirt from out back by the creek that is mostly runoff silt that collects over time forming a clay like dirt that holds burrows well and maintains humidity too.

Fall is coming, so rake up some nice maple/oak leaves.. they go well inside an enclosure.

little bugs and bacteria are beneficial to your enclosure, as thats what makes it bio active.

Varanids (Monitor Lizards) have an immunity system far superior to even humans, as they can find rotting carrion on the ground and welcome it as a free meal with no ill effects at all.

The monitors that get sick and die are a result of poor caging, the heavy stress reduces the ability of their immunity.

However, the brunt of deaths occur from organ failure, as they slowly dehydrate.

This occurs through breathing, since they have no pores, they cannot sweat and they don't urinate. Urates are passed as a chalky white mass in the feces.

Think of it like this, in the winter you can see your breath, that is moisture exiting your body. all Squamates (Lizards and snakes) have specific humidity requirements governed by evolution as to where they are from. Meaning that if you keep a rain forest herp in air thats too dry, it will not survive very long, keep a desert animal in a damp box, same thing.

Savannah Monitors are from a range in Africa that has several months of rainy season, and several months of drought, During the rainy season, there is very little sunlight, and during the dry season there is very little moisture.

This is why deep burrows are so important, it is the necessary tool they use to conserve body moisture, since for obvious reasons there is not much opportunity to drink during the drought season, so they retreat into the burrows and ride it out.

If you have ever noticed, basements are typically dank, damp places even on the hottest summer day, and the air is heavy (suspended water molecules)
this is the air that Savannah Monitors breath most of their lives.

When people keep them in hot cages with air leaks, the humidity burns off and escapes through the cracks, and now your lizard is inhaling dry air, and every exhale releases more of the animals internal water supply.

The process is slow, my last Savannah monitor took five years before his kidneys failed, his uric acid was no longer being filtered out of his blood, gout set in, and he died.

This is the fate of 99% of every Savannah Monitor exported from Africa.

Once an enclosure is sealed up with glue/caulk, rubber gaskets, etc.. and the humidity cannot escape into the room, you will find humidity readings from 60% to 90% without any misting.

Many folks wonder about air flow, so I will say this, how much air flow can there be down in a 3 inch wide hole a yard down? Since the cage door will be opened up daily, the air exchange from that is plenty.

When these conditions are met, the diet becomes a lot less important, as long as it is whole prey, meaning blood, guts, bones and brains, the animal will thrive.

sorry for writing a book, it made me think though.. I should make this into another page for the web site.

I've been gone a long time but see that I can still offer at least a tiny bit of advice on this. I always fed my babies proper sized meals DAILY. If you're not feeding daily that could explain the slow growth you're experiencing.
Once baby hits around 12 months old then you can adjust according. I've raised bosc monitors from all stages. Some were fed every other day, others everyday. I allowed them to tell me what they needed. All monitors are gluttons. At least healthy one's in my experiences.
The key to feeding daily is proper portions.
Hope this helps.

Thank you for the advice. He is doing well and i added some other meals to his diet.
He loves the worms i dig up !! Maybe more then the dubis.