Savannah Monitors?

Does anyone here have any who wouldn't mind me picking their brain? My boyfriend and I recently got one and I'm full of questions, even after reading a book and a couple good websites on the matter. It's the first pet I don't have complete control over and I find that I'm letting my boyfriend make decisions that I'm not sure we have enough information on to make. I'm already super in love with the little guy so I want the best for him.

I'd join a forum with a monitor section but whenever I find other similar questions the owners get completely mauled by the experts, and I'd like to not have that happen.

Here's a shot or two of Abaddon.





Thank you!

Super cute! I'm afraid that I can't offer up any help. Sorry...

What questions do you have maybe I can help.

Just about their housing maybe.
I was given a tank that is 4' long by 18" deep and tall (equates to about 67gals?) so this is what we have him in now. He is perhaps 6" STV right now. The way we have the tank set up is that he has about 10" of organic moist soil to dig around in with caves, and then a very large water container that he will swim around in. Then he has a couple heat lamps that create a toasty heat gradient, going from about 120F to room temp at the opposite end. It sounds like everything is ok, at least according to one book (at least for the immediate future) but I've been searching forums and it seems like everyone thinks that if you don't have an 8' x 4' enclosure right now, they will die. And I just saw a thread on Fauna where the man's monitors are growing an inch a week! Mine has done no such thing, so I'm worried we're actually doing harm and not good.

I'm just nervous, I guess. I think he's still small enough where this is plenty of space for him, especially coupled with free range time, but I'm not an expert so I can't just make assumptions.

He is fine in that set up for now but yes they grow real fast and a inch a week is normal for them to grow if well feed. What light are you using I would say go with a zoo med power of the sun 160 watt... I am willing to bet in a month or two he will need to be moved to a bigger set up though.

Ok, I'll pick one of those up from work tomorrow. We're using two 75w bulbs now plus a long fluorescent UVB bulb for now, which is getting us those temps but I can get the much bigger bulb. Will that get us to 150F?

150 degrees?? Holy schnikes! That's baking hot!

Honestly, it sounds ineffective but try to get a look at peoples enclosures on youtube, that helps a lot so you can get a visual on what is good for them. I know they get aggressive though as they get older, someone I went to school with had one and it chased her around the house a lot lmao

And yeah the forums for other animals seem to be very rude and have a "Know it all" mentality and aren't very helpful for new comers.

Olimpia said:

Ok, I'll pick one of those up from work tomorrow. We're using two 75w bulbs now plus a long fluorescent UVB bulb for now, which is getting us those temps but I can get the much bigger bulb. Will that get us to 150F?

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He is young I would only get his hot spot at a 110 to 120 ....

ISA my Veiled said:

And yeah the forums for other animals seem to be very rude and have a "Know it all" mentality and aren't very helpful for new comers.

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Wait, what? We "know it all" over here too!

He is gorgeous, I agree all sounds good for now . Bigger is always better, but your temps are good for now too.
How long have you had him? Trust me, he'll grow soon enough........
Hello little Abaddon, eat up some more - you are making mummy worried

have you ever seen a full grown healthy Savannah?


more importantly, have you seen one of it's poops?



those beasts should be outside pets so start shopping for land in southern Arizona asap.

Thank guys!

Really, Texas and David? I'm looking around and everyone seems to keep theirs very warm!

David, we've only had him about 2 weeks.

Yes, Vegun, we had a full-grown one in my pet store for a couple weeks and I was on poop duty! But they have such a handsome face, I'll let that aspect slide! I feel though, and correct me if I'm wrong, that their poop probably gets worse with a rodent-heavy diet. We're sticking to all insects for now and so far the poop is pretty consistent with what I'm used to for chams and geckos.


We may end up building him something outside, would that be alright do you think, in our Florida weather? In the shade (where the cage will be) the ambient temps on very hot days hovers in the 80's and with a lamp on we can maintain the hot spot at 120F without a lot of trouble. The humidity would certainly be right for him. I can set up a misting nozzle on the cool side too to keep things from getting too warm all over and to keep the humidity up.

You can go that hi but I prefer the better safe then sorry method for babies.

OK that's fine, that's what I need to know! By when do you have them as hot as is recommended, by the time they reach a year old or sooner?

I would wait a few months if he has grown a good amount then bump his temps up.

Ok good. Now on to food!

How much is a good amount to feed? Right now I'm doing 3-4 good-sized roaches (of one of 5 varieties) and about 5-6 medium crickets a day. And a few times a week I'll offer something special like an infertile chameleon egg or something like a feeder fish. No rodents so far. Does this sound ok or too little? In the coming weeks he'll see more nightcrawlers, hornworms, butter worms, etc., all the good stuff the chameleons eat as well.

As far as TYPES of food, my head is spinning from how much conflicting information there is about whether or not to feed this or that. How often do you offer a rodent as a meal? I'm trying to make his diet about 90-95% insects and the rest other stuff, more animal protein stuff. Does this sound right or are people of a higher-rodent camp? Also, what other feeders could I use of the vertebrate variety? Something like quail or chicks? (will all be frozen-thawed, I don't plan on wiping blood off the tank walls!)

Monitors are not too picky. Forget about chams and their specific care at this point. Monitors make great pets no matter how. Yet they need meat. I think roaches are better as they don't nibble if they are left in the cage. I hope to remember that the bigger they get the more meat they need. It is like snakes. If wrong, please correct me.

My only advice is to use pre-killed/frozen food over live as often as possible. Monitors fed a live diet are normally more food aggressive and hand aggressive. We have a "puppy dog" savannah at work and one that is extremely wild. It all boiled down to what their previous owners fed them...with handling too of course.