Very first monitor!

[SnowFoxx]

I just bought a baby Savannah at the New England expo today! I'm very excited...I've been thinking of venturing from snakes to lizards for a while, and I've finally done it! She's a little female, about 3 inches not including the tail, and is quite dark for a Sav, with tiny spots...a very pretty pattern, I think. She was very calm when I took her out of her deli cup, not showing the least bit of fear or aggression - but when I tried to put her back in, she decided she wanted none of that, and in the end it took two of us to get one little three-inch Sav into a deli cup! She's settled down now, though, and taken a little nap already. She seems to tucker out pretty fast, poor little thing! :)

I have one question and a request for you all. First the question. I bought her food at the expo (small wax worms, crickets, I'll pick up a little can of dog food later). I've been reading care sheets for a few weeks now, and they all say the same things about feeding: Savs will eat whenever you feed them, and baby Savs should eat inverts, while adults should eat a lot of mice. None of the care sheets I have found say anything about how often you should feed them at each age (just that they will always be ready to eat) or tell when they should start to be weaned from inverts to rodents. Am I right, or am I just looking at the wrong care sheets? Advice on this would be great.

My request is for personal Sav stories. I've already searched online and on this forum, but I'd love to hear more stories of peoples experiences with Savs - both good and bad - as pets. I'm in this for life (the Sav's life, anyway;)) and while care sheets give you a good idea of what to expect from the technical side, they don't really get into the everyday interaction, and personalities of the animals. If any of you would like to share your stories, I'd appreciate that, too.

Anyway, thanks for humoring this proud new mom!

- Victoria :w

[tabastifur]

Hey Victoria,

FIrst off, congratulations! Good to hear there is another monitor keeper out there. Alright, let's get down to business...

I started my Sav hatchling off like anyone would, feeding once every day, sometimes even twice. Baby Savs need all the food they can get to grow up. (Be sure to dust, it IS essential) As feeding mice goes, wait untill the head is wide enough across for half grown mice, and start with those. I fed mine 2 half grown mice, twice a week untill the day he died. As for the comment that baby savs should feed whenever you offer them food, that kind refers to after they settle in to thier new home. Generally 3-7 days. Because mine wouldn't eat for 4 days and then all of the sudden he suprised me by nearly grabbing my hand lunging for a mouse I was putting in his enclosure.

I hope I have been of some help,

Dan