Nile Monitor Gourmet Cuisine.

morti · #1 (**permalink**) 12-18-2002, 11:02 PM

With most reptiles out there, everyone aggrees what and how much you should feed. Boas for instance are very straight forward - Feed them one appropriately sized prey item ever 1-2 weeks depending on the age and size of the snake. You can read any of a dozen care sheets that will tell you the same info. It seems that there are a lot of differing oppinions on monitor care though. I just want to know a couple of things from you lizard experts:

My monitor is an Ornate Nile...

1) What do you feed your nile monitors?
2) How often do you feed them?
3) Just how fat is a healthy nile supposed to be?
4) What is the Meaning of Life?

Please help me with this info and when I have compiled all this with everything else I have read and everyone else I have talked to, I will probably write a care sheet.

Thanks in advance for you help.
-Morti, Monitor Mentor. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]
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LdyDrgn · #2 (**permalink**) 12-18-2002, 11:14 PM

I know the answer to Number 4...but I think I'll let everyone else puzzle it out first. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
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Ravnos · #3 (**permalink**) 12-18-2002, 11:54 PM

When I had my ornate, she was 3 years old and I fed around 3 times a week. Plus she was the trashcan and got any leftovers from other animals that didn't eat. I didn't have her that long, so I can't really give a size/growth comparasin, but monitors really vary depending on their activity level, their age, and their temps. Right now, my savannah eats 2 or 3 times a week, plus trashcan duty.

Babies, I offer crickets, mealies, other insects almost daily, of course, only what they'll eat in a few minutes and then offer pinks a couple times a week. Once you get to yearlings, and larger rodent food items, I'd go to 3-4 times a week... all dependant on how active your lizard is and how their growth rate is. I still like to give crickets to larger monitors, it is great fun to watch them chase them around.

I don't know how to say exactly how 'fat' a healthy nile should be, but monitors should be well muscle toned. Not pudgy or flabby. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] Of course, that comes back to activity level too. Many monitors are kept in relatively small cages and they don't get the exercise they should so even if they are getting a good diet, they're not working their muscles to keep fit.

And finally, the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is 42.

Dunno how helpful my opinion is, but hey I have nothing better to do at the moment than post. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Rav
_________________
The darkness might conquer, but it can never extinguish hope. And though one candle, or many, might flicker and die, new candles will be lit from the old. Thus hope's flame always burns, lighting the darkness until the coming of day.

morti · #4 (**permalink**) 12-19-2002, 12:04 AM

Rav, your oppinion is always worth reading. I just like to get a lot of different info so I don't have to make it up as I go along. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

-Your Sick Uncle Morti.
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Ravnos · #5 (**permalink**) 12-19-2002, 12:49 AM

I always make it up as I go... it makes it interesting that way. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

I was discussing with the reptile keeper at the San Antonio zoo about feeding the komodos. And they frequently like to throw in whole white rabbit carcasses to let them tear them apart. Says it keeps them amused. Coincidentally, this is also why they don't recommend wearing white sneakers when going into the komodo cage. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Rav
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LdyDrgn · #6 (**permalink**) 12-19-2002, 01:06 AM

Rav, here is a good photo for size/weight:

Kate, the Commode Dragon

And here she is trying to wash her paws after flushing.... [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]

Isn't she adorable? [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

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r-u-n-n-o-f-t

morti · #7 (**permalink**) 12-19-2002, 01:23 AM

Isn't that cute? She's learning to Flush! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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storm · #8 (**permalink**) 12-19-2002, 03:09 AM

I'm just glad that's your bathroom Morti, not mine! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
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LdyDrgn · #9 (**permalink**) 12-19-2002, 08:18 PM

*bump*
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Ed_r · #10 (**permalink**) 12-19-2002, 08:47 PM

I agree with the trash can feeding too. I also offer whole boiled eggs. In the wild they ravage croc nests and devour the eggs. Occasional fish is good, cooked chicken or turkey. A rodent of size for them to just swallow whole. If prey is too large they tend to tear it apart and make one messy clean up. My buddies Argus monitor is notorious for that, specially if fed quails.

3 Times a week is a good schedule for feeding.

A healthy Nile is an active Nile. Niles never really get fat, like a savannah. They normally are too active to get that way. You can tell if he is doing well if his tail is nice and meaty. It shouldnt be real flat, but not round either, A slightly compressed tail is normal.

Meaning of life is we are all just gods playtoys here for his/her amusement.
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A man's life is like a 3 ring circus: 1st the Enagagement Ring, 2nd the Wedding Ring, 3rd the Suffer Ring!!!

morti · #11 (**permalink**) 12-19-2002, 09:30 PM

Good stuff! Thanks for that response ed.

I tried offering her a couple of boiled eggs last night and she just looked at me like I was silly. I left them in there over night and they were still uneaten this morning. *sigh*

She has eaten one mouse for me, so maybe I can get her on small rats. That would be better for the food I already have handy.

Thanks again!
-Morti, Monitor Chef.
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Ed_r · #12 (**permalink**) 12-20-2002, 02:09 AM

Morti it's kind of hard to tell her size but she looks big enough to take whole eggs. Did you offer them very warm or cold? When i had my large Savannah She wouldn't take them cold, she would only play with them. But if I gave them too her only slightly cooled off and still pretty warm to the touch she ate them.
Took he a couple trys at whole eggs though.
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morti · #13 (**permalink**) 12-20-2002, 02:15 AM

They were not yet completely cold, but they were not hot either. kindof medium.
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storm · #14 (**permalink**) 12-20-2002, 02:49 AM

Mayhaps the avoidance of cool eggs is an instinctive response... Cool eggs = abandoned nest = non-viable embryos = eggs gone a bit manky = food poisoning.
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Gene · #15 (**permalink**) 12-20-2002, 02:41 PM

Hey Morti.

I will start by throwing down one of my ace cards. Are you familiar with Pro Exotics? There is a link on their site to care sheets for water monitors (V. Salvator) my favorite monitors. They approach monitor care very similarly for all species. I have gotten 6 of my 9 current monitors from them and you couldn't ask for better animals.

One thing Robyn dosn't really cover in his care sheet is how much monitors like to dig. They live underground in burrows, hollowed out trees, or where ever they will fit and feel secure. They really appreciate tight, dark, warm places to hide and with a Nile or Water, I am sure they would desire a higher humidity.

As far as diet is concerned I would stick with a rodent based diet. Feel free to vary it a little with some quail chicks or baby chickens. You can even use thawed raw ground turkey once in a while. I also try eggs, usually scrambled. Hissing roaches just for fun although Kate may be a little large to care about them.

There is a huge debate on whether monitors require uv light or not. Personally I don't feel they do. Like I said they spend a lot of time hiding and I don't think they convert vitamins like an iguana does. I use a supplement for my younger monitors, Miner-all, the indoor kind because it has Vit D3 already in it. It is really good stuff. I tend not to use it with my larger ones that are eating rodents because they get the calcium from the bones obviously.

As far as lighting / heating goes. Get you some outdoor flood lights. The wattage depends on how close to the monitor they will be to achieve the proper temps. It varies from set up to set up. I will enclose a pic just to give you an idea of how I set up a cage for some young Salvators. You could even do a temporary thing in the bathroom with a piece of plywood and some outdoor flood light fixtures suspended from chains or something. I will post a pic of a cage I am constructing with the plywood already hung. I have attached the lights but don't have a pic of them yet. Monitors need a lot of choices. Compared to snakes they spend a lot of time regulating, exploring, and believe it or not thinking. (That last part is just my oppinion). I would start by getting a ambient temp of at least 80 degrees and provide a basking spot of at least 130 degrees. I personally go closer to 150 but that is just me. Be sure you use flood lights, NOT SPOT LIGHTS. You don't want a focused beam on the animal, it will most definately burn them. Try to get the spot for basking large enough to cover the whole animal from snout to vent.

I could go on forever but I suspect you know a lot of the basics. Please let me know if there is anything I can help with. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Later.

morti · #16 (**permalink**) 12-20-2002, 11:47 PM

Those are some nice looking setups there!

Your burrowing substrate... is that just topsoil? and if so, do you just bake it first? And how often to you find that you have to change out the entire substrate?
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LdyDrgn · #17 (**permalink**) 12-21-2002, 12:00 AM

Ed R, I would like to thank you for the advice on the offering of slightly warmer eggs. I took the eggs that Morti had left for her in the afternoon and placed them on her heat pad early in the evening. They were gone by the time Morti got home [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] It is nice to know she is eating....
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Gene · #18 (**permalink**) 12-21-2002, 12:03 AM

Thanks!! Built them myself. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

The substrate is a not so carefully measured mixture of 50% top soil, 25% sand and 25% vermiculite. I don't bake it. I don't take any of those precautions as a matter of fact. Neither do any of the monitor keepers I know. I rarely if ever change all the substrate. My guys crap in the water 99% of the time which leads to other intresting challenges.

I am in search of some good backyard dirt and some leaves. I have heard monitors love leaf litter over the substrate and it holds in moisture!! BONUS!! I just have to wait and see when the weather here clears up so I can dig up my back yard and tick my wife completely off by dragging tubs of dirt through the house. Party at my house [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]
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morti · #19 (**permalink**) 12-21-2002, 12:10 AM

Snazzy... When I do build my enclosure, it is going to be a positive Monitor Playground. And I agree with Michelle... Thanks Ed!

-Your Sick Uncle Morti.
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talon · #20 (**permalink**) 12-21-2002, 01:51 AM

Always supplement with d3 and or provide full spectrum light (uvb light) no matter what the age it is something they have to have provided or synthesize with natural sunlight. make sure to very diet. insects, worms, fish are really good because they are high on protein and low on fat. Excercise excercise EXCERSISE! rodents are good too but niles are defianately are egg eaters! Alco check out proexotics care sheets like gene reccomended.

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