ours jaws

Originally Posted by azoun

SavannahisCRAZY
Omg You might as well just shove a ruber hose up its ass and stuff it full of butter...... You could feed a small african village with what you feed your savannah.

LOL

thanks for the advice azoun i definitely wasn't making the water high enough. The black throat is almost a year old and about 4ft. the sav what the guy told me was about 2 1/2 years old and about 2 1/2 ft. my black throat is still very active and really isn't held black by what gut she has and i feed her about 2 or 3 med rats a week. the sav on the other hand since i got her about 2 months ago i have had him eating 1 to 2 small rats a week. That fat ass just lays around and doesn't do anything unless he sees something small and furry. I knew when i bought that fatty he was going to be a project but i thought i was going to see more improvement faster.

Sounds like your feeding isnt the problem especialy if they are that size, All you have to do is the Forced swiming, Just make sure they have a ledge they can swim to or else it be torture. They might try to float 2 lol, my second sav, was a lil chubby when i got him, and when id put him in the deep end, hed puff up, and float lol, so u just keep nuging him, eventually hell swim.

Forced swimming?

No monitor needs forced swimming...actually, it is cruel as hell...where are you getting this garbage from?

Sad thing about monitors is....most of the people keeping them don't know squat about them...

Provide the Sav with a properly sized enclosure and a deep substrate to dig in, and it will get all the physical activity it needs....

Forced swimming.....what a horrible thing to do to an animal.....

All of you need to learn how to care for your animals correctly before you try to give out advice.

I think forced swimming would just stress the sav out idk just my opinion

People need to pay attention, Force swiming is only done when the animal is obeese, its not harmfull and helps burn fat, if your monitor isnt obese than theirs no point. Dont take is out of context, even if the animal dosnt enjoy it
at first,its only for neccesary wight loss. + They are verry well built for swiming, and mine now enjoy it, like i said one didnt at first because he was fat and just floated But now he himself will plop himselfinto the tub for some laps. I fill the tub, deep with a ledge (concreete block) and a ramp up to the tub and let them run around the bathroom while i sit and watch, and they themselves run up the ramp and jump into tub, especialy if the water is warm, They also like to go under the tub fauset when you add a lil water.
As far as deep substrate and diging, the only time they dig is for thermoregulation, they dont just dig to stay active.

Horrible is throwing an animal that cant, or dosnt like water, or swiming, like throwing a cat into a pool thats cruel, introducing savs to tubs first with depth from .5 inch to 3 inches, and gradually making a deep water pool for them that they THEMSELVES with help from a double ramp going into and out of the tub, now CHOSE to run into the water and swim, and run out, and run back in and swim some more....how is that crual? Because i thought a bit, introduced my 2 savs to WATER (something i know they deal with in the wild)and now they themselves choose. I never said throw them in the pool and forget them lol. The fatty i had did seem to HATE it the first time, now he himself will go. Maybe your monitors are missing out! What you percieve as crual, both my monitors enjoy....so ill personally stick to my monitors behaviors rather than opinions. But thank you for your concern, its nice to see people care about animals. I have 11 reptiles that i care for and absolutley adore, i just shared some advise on how to deal with FAT ones.. Take it or leave it But stating its crual... tahts a lil harsh, especialy since we actually now almoust nothing on sav's the only study ever done with some merit was done YEARS AGO 70s i think, thats why there is so many different OPINIONS. A couple of months ago there was a article on how rodant diets are EVIL AND BAD for savs.......yet I know tons of people and breeders feed all exclusive rodant diets. Who's wrong??? NO ONE! Both insect only diet works, and a well MAINTAINED rodant diet(since rats are more nutricious than insects)works fine as well. Try it yourself provide them with a swiming pool and ramps to climb in and out, see what happens. Maybe even you wont think its crual then.

Originally Posted by azoun

Maybe your monitors are missing out!

Not at all. My monitors don't need to be forced to swim.....they do great just the way that they are kept now

Monitor do not need to be soaked if the proper conditions are provided to them. A monitor provided an enviroment in which it can 'have a life' does not need to be soaked in order to 'loose weight' or 'stay in shape'. Forced swimming is a cover-up for improper husbandry....it benefits the keeper because less effort is needed than fixing the husbandry itself. Why not provide the sav with proper condition so it does not have to be forced to swim? Is that too much to ask?

Originally Posted by azoun

What you percieve as crual, both my monitors enjoy....so ill personally stick to my monitors behaviors rather than opinions.

How do you know they enjoy it?

You say they enjoy warmer baths.....are they going to the water to exercise and play?....or are they going to the water to get heat when placed in a cool bathroom? Next time you go to force them to swim, plug in a heat lamp and put in the room nearby.......now see if they would rather swim or warm up. Great way to test things....keeps you thinking....monitor lizards are a "thinking man's reptile" afterall...

Originally Posted by azoun

yet I know tons of people and breeders feed all exclusive rodant diets.

What kind of results do they/you have? How long do their/your Savs live? How many clutches of eggs are being produced? What variety of behaviors are being observed?

If you don't have results, anything said means nothing toward the captive husbandry of the animal. I could keep a sav alive in a 10 gallon aquarium fed only cat food, but that wouldn't make it right or good advice would it?

Breeders of Savs? Who?

Jarrett Coiro had good success breeding savanahhs (something you hear about very little) and recently had an article published in the new Biawak journal recently..

Great read if you like hearing about success with savs...
http://www.nabble.com/file/p12268628...thematicus.pdf

Great example of captive care of exanthematicus since he has RESULTS

I'm going to have to agree with daniel since he actually is making sense here.

If kept properly there should be need to 'swim' your monitor, with proper husbandry they should not be allowed to become obese, and once more (third time's a charm) with proper husbandry they shouldn't be missing out on any NATURAL behaviors, which most definitely does not include forced swimming, as that would be unnatural.

I think people said it, Rafal. There is no need to force swim your sav (or any animal) and you have no idea of how to take care of your animal(s).