moniter food

what do savannah moniters eat

Originally Posted by madragon

what do savannah moniters eat

Whatever they can cram into their mouths. Mice, crickets, roaches, banannas, box turtles, iguanas, fingers, shoes, even their own feces. That's not to say that what they actually do eat is good for them.

Wild savannas eat mostly invertebrates - millipedes, scorpions, crickets, spiders, snails, and the like. Only rarely do they eat vertebrates - usually a frog. Mammals are almost never consumed.

In captivity, you may be able to get away with feeding them a staple diet of mice. This diet will sustain most other species of mid-sized and large monitors just fine. However, savannas in captivity seem to often suffer from health problems that resulty in premature internal organ failure and an early death, a rodent diet may (or may not) be part of this. If you wish to more closely mimic their natural diet, stick to crickets and hissing roaches (hissers are a real favorite of this species, I've seen them go through more acrobatics to snag a hisser than any other food). If you can get snails and earthworms from a pesticide free source, you can feed those as well.

Finally, I cannot recommend the book "Savanna Monitors: the truth about Varanus exanthematicus" enough. Buy it. Read it. Allow your pet to live like savanna monitors are supposed to live. It is by Bennet and Thakoordyal. The former is the first person to study the lives of savanna monitors in their natural habitat, the second is a successful breeder of this species. Just for the record, I am not afilliated with the authors or their organizations in any way, nor do I know either of them except by reputation and by reading their posts on other fora. Unfortunately, you cannot order this book on Amazon last like I checked - try the Bean Farm, Pro Exotics, or directly from the publisher (Viper Press).

Good luck,

Luke