cockroaches......

Beutiful nothing · #1 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 06:08 AM

Can i feed a full grown savanna monitor madagascar hissing cockroaches as a good portion of its diet?

I would still feed mice but not as much.

jtmoney · #2 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 06:33 AM

Yes, I use dubia for a ton of stuff. If your going to breed roaches do not do hissers. They take forever to breed. Go with Dubia. Faster breeders and they get pretty large too.

Xeikeness · #3 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 07:31 AM

I breed and feed my monitors hissers.

I have plenty of hissers at my disposal, so the longer breeding time doesn't bother me too badly.

Beutiful nothing · #4 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 03:00 PM

I have so much conflicting info, I have come only to trust people on this web site cause everyone else seems to not know anything.
people were telling me that rodents would be better cause they are more nutritious. but then i reasearched monitors in the wild and apparently a good portion of there diet is invertebrates in the wild so why not right?
so you think its ok to feed the roaches on a daily basis and feed a mouse like once a week?
also i have the time and space to breed roaches but not mice and they will get expensive.

Xeikeness · #5 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 06:13 PM

This is the diet for mine:

Every morning they get at least 3-4 roaches. Twice to three times a week, I cook an egg, mash the shell up, chop up some roaches, some crickets, and some ground turkey, and make a savannah monitor omlette.

Every other afternoon, they each get 2-4 rat pups. The teeny little barely weaned rats.

The afternoons that they don't get the rats, they get ground turkey and a few more roaches.

So far, they're very happy with this situation.

Beutiful nothing · #6 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 08:27 PM

Im trying to only feed mice like once a week to like every 4 or 5 days and then just give him a bunch of roaches and other stuff... i dont know, i think that mice are to fatty and they can get the protein from the roaches and a lot less fat.

savannah_babe · #7 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 08:33 PM

Savannah Monitor Care Sheet (V. Exanthematicus)

Xeikeness · #8 (**permalink**) 05-03-2008, 01:26 AM

Mice are fairly fatty for monitors, that's why I feed weaned rats. Rats that have just dropped all their baby fat and are mostly sinew and bone. LOL

I breed my own so it's easy to see the point in which rat babies start looking their baby fat as they stop drinking milk.

Plus, at $0.50 each, hissers can be a hot commodity. If you can breed your own very large roaches is best, otherwise you end up spending a LOT of money on food for your critters. I'm a big fan of NOT spending money, so I breed my own rats and roaches, and we always buy those huge 9+ dozen flats of eggs from costco.

I always pepper the eggs the savs get with cricket mulch and roach parts. Whenever I'm in the kitchen before noon, my roommates turn right around and walk back out. I dunno what people are so creeped out by, it's just bugs and eggs......... Nom nom brekky nom...

Beutiful nothing · #9 (**permalink**) 05-03-2008, 05:23 AM

yea a big factor for me is cost so if i breed my own roaches do you think i will be able to feed it a rat like once or twice a week and vary its diet with other things,
also do you think that anole lizards could be a nutritious meal and add variation to its diet?

Xeikeness · #10 (**permalink**) 05-03-2008, 06:18 PM

I myself wouldn't feed a sav anoles. I'm sure they'd probably eat it, but for me it's an ethical sort of thing. They do great on rats and eggs and roaches, no need to feed a lizard a lizard.

And yes, that should be fine. If it isn't, Raze'll pop in at some point with his input.

Beutiful nothing · #11 (**permalink**) 05-04-2008, 05:25 AM

I was thinking anoles because is the wild im sure lizards are a portion of its diet is raze the resident expert?

John_E_Dove · #12 (**permalink**) 05-04-2008, 05:40 AM

As I just pointed out in the Anole Thread, 99% of the Anoles you can buy are Wild Caught. This means they are carrying parasites.
Breeding your own like I do/did might supply your some to feed out but do a little research on how many eggs are produced by a female per season and how long it takes for an Anole yo reach a size where it offers any real quantity of nutrition to your Sav.
I think you may find it will not pay off in the long run and Anoles have specific care requirements that make a $2.00 Anole cost much more than $2.00 in the long run.

jtmoney · #13 (**permalink**) 05-05-2008, 06:25 PM

Heck you will spend more than 2$ just feeding that anole to get it to size to feed.

razeraze · #14 (**permalink**) 05-05-2008, 10:27 PM

That care sheet is way off and rodents should never be a staple for an insectivore, common sense. Larger monitors do well on rodents, exanthematicus is not one of them. Research your pets, a bosc natural diet is all insects, snails, and occasional reptiles or amphibians.

justine · #15 (**permalink**) 05-06-2008, 04:45 PM

Xieke, and yet we dont have any pictures of them. whats up with THAT?

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