Monitor Feeding

[top dog]

I keep hearing how important it is to vary my monitors diet but this is not all that easy.
At the moment i am giving my Bosc brown crikects, meal worm, grubs and some mince turkey, pinkys with egg one in a while(qauil and chicken)
Now for the problems grubs and meal worms do not make up a full feed and cost aint cheep i also have also only found black cricket ones and X-large brown crikets are so rare it is waste looking for them.
Would a diet of twice a week brown cricket, twice a week black crickets(if i find them) once a week meal worms. onces a week turkey mince one a week pinkys.
Would this be a suitable diet for both Bosc and rock monitors.

[Bushviper]

Both these monitors would do well with as varied a diet as possible.

Try breeding your own meal worms as this is pretty simple.

Try harvesting snails from a safe source because they love those too. Any place that makes compost will also be able to supply you with large cutworms.

Take chicken or turkey necks and pound them with a hammer. That way the animal gets a bit more calcium in his diet. You can also give him some powdered calcium on his food once a week. A SMALL amount of a multivitamin will also not be a bad idea. Whatever dosage is on the container should be reduced by 50 percent to be safe.

[top dog]

Forgot to mention that they get calcuim supliment and electrolite as well. thanks for the tip on snail and cut worms. I have also seen silk worms around could these work as a alternative aswell.

[Long John Silver]

Earthworms?

[Kristo]

Silkworms are good!....

One of my monitors does the strangest thing with them! Rubs his face on it fot like 15 min before eating it! Its like catnip only with a lizard none of the other ones do this!

[axor]

Hi There

My bosc is about 30 cm now.

I feed it pinkies, crickets superworms, silkworms.
He's eating about 2 pinkies per feed at the moment but what I rather do is if I am going to feed him pinkies I only feed one and 2 silks because I
dont think pinks are very nutritious on there own.

I have read somewhere that when they are under 9 months you can feed them high quality canned dog food not cat food
though because they say it contains a lot of fat.

Here is a list of foods from another site that might help,
"crickets, pinkies, mealworms, worms, cockroches, grasshoppers, spiders, millepedes, seafood, like shrimp and lobster and of course fish, pretty much anything, but only some of the following should be offrered, if offered at all only once in a while: dog food, cold cut meats, cooked chicken, turkey. My savannah gets, mice crickets, cockroches, grasshoppers, millepedes and sometimes shrimp and fish."

[Trayton]

Our bosc gets roaches; crix; pinks; silkworms and superworms. he's healthy and active!

[firefly]

Would they not eat liver and ox heart or do they prefer live prey?

[Long John Silver]

I can understand the logic behind cooking chicken, but I read somewhere that you shouldnt offer cooked food to monitors. The author stated that monitors doesnt have the ability to digest cooked meat properly and should only be offered raw meat. Cant remember the site or link but maybe someone can comment on this?

Aren't millipedes poisonous?

[Fredrik]

-"Savannah monitors have evolved a way to eat poisonous millipedes. The lizard will rub its chin on the millipede for up to fifteen minutes before eating it. It is believed to do this to some how avoid the distasteful fluid that the millipede excretes in it's defense (Steele 1996)."

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/s ... ticus.html

I think I have read this somewhere else, but I can't find it.
I'll see if I can find it.

Best wishes
Fredrik

[Bushviper]

That distasteful fluid you refer to actually contains cyanide. Millipedes are eaten by Monitors, Hedgehogs, Dormice and Hingeback tortoises.

Lemurs use them and rub the poison on their fur to keep away other insects but it also makes the lemurs as high as a kite.

Just some more useless information you can toss into the conversation at the next garden party!

[Fredrik]

Hi Bushviper!

Not entirely correct.
Polydesmidae are the only family where the secretions contains hydrogen cyanide.

Other families may have other poisonous substances, but they lack hydrogen cyanide.

More about millipede secretion can be found here:
http://www.pherobase.com/database/genus ... inopus.php
http://www.pherobase.com/database/genus ... oporus.php
http://www.pherobase.com/database/genus ... eloria.php

I have experienced the secretion from Apheloria tigana earlier (Polydesmidae)
I had to handle them while trying to determine the sex and they exuded plenty of secretion.

A very pleasant smell of almond (it actually smelled very good) spread in the room and after having sexed +15 millipedes I began to feel a head ache and nauseous.

It took a couple of hours and plenty of fresh air to feel better
and I'm glad I didn't have any open wounds on my fingers.

Best wishes
Fredrik

[froot]

Thank you Fredrik, very interesting links.

[Long John Silver]

Would one be able to feed frogs to Savannah's and Ridge-tails?

[Bushviper]

Non toxic frogs yes. Toads definately not.

Frederick thanks for that. I have seen frogs react violently if they lap up a millipede by mistake.