Insectivore Diets for Monitor Lizards

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In this video, I help you, the keeper, understand why many varanids (monitor lizards) kept in incaptivity live longer, healthier lives on an insectivore diet. Examples are the Ackie Monitor Varanus acanthurus and the Savannah Monitor Varanus exanthematicus. In the wild, these animals will eat a wide variety of prey outside of invertebrates. However, in captivity, it's easier for most keepers to keep these animals lean on a diet consisting mainly of insects. I'll explain how to balance the diet with the different types of insects and examples of macro and micronutrients they contain.

Опубликовано:

8 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 20

@EXOScaper-sf1mu 3 месяца назад

After researching over 2 months I came to a conclusion that we currently don't have enough info on Savanah to captive raise properly, so gave up on getting one. I wish him/her best of luck with long(er) and happy life!

@Scales13 3 месяца назад

Yes, challenging species. Not one. I was very thrilled about taking into my collection.

@ericloskamp2110 3 месяца назад

A lot of great points! Something I think that would help with portion control is having a set quantifiable amount. Studies of wild Ackies show they have a fresh food consumption rate of 13.2g/kg/day, meaning that a 100g Ackie only needs 1.32 grams of food per day. I think the important thing looking at wild diets is seeing the proportion of which insects make up the diet, so we can replicate protein levels that the animal is evolved to digest and absorb

@Scales13 3 месяца назад

Very true, I think the only obstacle they're is factoring in the amount of movement a wild has per day vs. a Captive specimen, which of course offsets the calorie load the animal can handle. If we factor that into the equation, I think we can start to nail down better feeding regiments for adults.

@ericloskamp2110 3 месяца назад

@@Scales13 regardless of differences between wild and captive individuals, the 13.2g/kg/day serves a benchmark to help guide how much is appropriate for the species. I think another thing to take into account is that monitors are not constantly on the move. Studies show monitors have similar metabolic rates to other lizards, so monitors shouldn’t be treated differently energy demand wise as other lizards in similar environments. I have a paper on gout in the responsible herpetoculture journal that details a lot of this further too!

@Scales13 3 месяца назад

@ericloskamp2110 True to the point. I'm just saying an animal that doesn't get the chance to roam at it's leasure vs an animal in a box will defently show a huge difference in activity, I'm not saying that energy consumption based on the animals biology is any different, but more or less how much energy the animal has a chance to consume. I do agree with your point that people forget that monitors are also just lizards and share a similar metabolic rate with other ectotherms.

@ericloskamp2110 3 месяца назад

@@Scales13 agree with those points- I wanted to add the fresh food consumption rate to the comments of your video to add supplemental information- awesome content as usual!

@Scales13 3 месяца назад

Great color. That is the point of this series to given keepers the chance to share info for the benefit of newer keepers and the welfare of the animals they're keeping. Excellent hope to hear from you again!

@lewisclement41 3 месяца назад

Very informative video and your animals are looking great 👍 I wish we could get hornworms here in the UK.

@Scales13 3 месяца назад

I wish we could get locust, but so far, the grass Hoppers are working out nicely.

@danijo3651 Месяц назад

I really like your new intro.

@Scales13 Месяц назад

Thank you

@MAWADI45 3 месяца назад

Thanks^_^ Great info!

@Scales13 3 месяца назад

Your welcome

@TurboLimited 3 месяца назад

Said lion and tigers and bears without saying oh my. -10 points 😂🤪

@Scales13 3 месяца назад

Lol I was thinking if making that joke. Glad someone picked up on where I was going with that.

@foxstar8433 3 месяца назад

I really like your video, this information is very important. I was wondering if you know how much a good weight for a young adult Ackie should be? My Ackie is about 140g and probably 1.5-2 years old, I have seen a lot of varying suggestions, so I’m not sure if his weight is ok, he doesn’t look to skinny or fat.

@Scales13 3 месяца назад

Well that's also relative to the length of the animal. Longer frame can hold more weight id need measurements as well.

@foxstar8433 3 месяца назад

He is about 18 inches long, kind of hard to measure him. I got him recently and I feel like he’s kind of small.

@Scales13 3 месяца назад

Thunder is about a foot and a half long. Last time I weighed him, he was 118 grams.