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The irresponsible sellers of these baby animals are nearly all guilty of holding back the necessary information required to properly take care of these lizards.
Because of this, almost every one of these babies fail to reach their first birthday.After all, if the seller were to inform the buyers that the "cheap" lizard they were about to purchase was going to need a cage the size of a room with (literally) a ton of dirt in the bottom, it was going to eat several thousand rands worth of food and may never become "dog tame" they would not sell very many of them. In our struggling economy; that is not going to be a popular move, so they often (nearly always) distort the truth and will tell you whatever you want to hear, just so they can collect your money. This is heartbreaking and tragic.
CARE
One of the biggest misconceptions about Savannah Monitors is that they are desert dwelling animals; This is false information. Virtually all of the Savannah Monitors captured for the worldwide pet trade are "harvested" from Ghana Africa, a coastal grassland, that has rich grassy vegetation and relatively high humidity. When we fail to provide the required humidity in captivity, these majestic animals perish from various states of dehydration. What many keepers fail to realize is that these animals spend much of their time down inside burrows (or tunnels) under the ground to conserve moisture and avoid predators. These burrows are very important to the overall health of your lizard.
If you wish to keep your Savannah Monitor healthy and alive for more than a year or two, you simply must provide a large sealed enclosure with a solid 24 inches of soil that will hold a burrow without collapsing on the animal while it spends most of it's time in there. The preferred substrate of many advanced keepers is a mixture of soil and sand.
TEMPS AND HUMIDITY
To properly support your Savannah Monitor, a wide range of options is usually deemed the best way to raise a healthy animal, Quite honestly you simply cannot provide this with any size "fish tank"!
The humidity inside your enclosure should range from very low (directly under the basking lamps) to very high (nearly 100% down in the burrows and about 60% overall humidity on the cooler end of the cage.
A high quality digital hygrometer is mandatory for monitoring the environment inside your enclosure. Guessing the humidity will not work.
A high quality digital thermometer or temp gun is also a necessary tool required to properly set up and maintain your monitor and keep it healthy.
Failure to provide sufficient basking temperatures and correct humidity, as well as supported burrowing, is stressful the lizards internal organs and leads to dehydration and gout.
LIGHTING YOUR ENCLOSURE
For optimal basking, without risk of burns, it is common practice to use a cluster of three smaller 45 to 50 watt halogen flood lights rather than one big light. Experienced keepers use common floodlight bulbs sold at most retailers / hardware stores for use in outdoor security lights. They cost a lot less than reptile bulbs sold at pet shops, and work just as well.
Optimal basking temperatures should be right around 55-60 degrees (C) and be broad enough to cover most of the lizards body while sprawled out under the lamps. Warning! the use of a single high wattage lamp will burn your lizard and dry out the air in your cage.
It is also of no harm and thought to benefit the lizard if there is at least one UVB lamp in use to enhance the simulation of sunlight.
FOOD OPTIONS
Savannah Monitors are primarily insectivores in the wild, there is however, some controversy about feeding rodents in captivity. This is a long winded and foolish argument.
A properly supported Monitor can handle mice and rats in their diet without any problems. However, the vast majority of keepers do not provide the correct housing for their captive lizards and the resulting health issues are often blamed on the rodent diet, when in fact improper husbandry that brought on the failure in the animal's health. Be sure to read the dehydration and gout page carefully, or your lizard will not live to be very old.
A proper Savannah Monitor diet would consist of Roaches, Crickets, Night Crawlers (Large earth worms) Mice, Rats, Snails, Garden slugs, Superworms and Locusts (where available) and certified chemical free organic whole shrimp & crayfish.
POOR FOODS
Some of the worst things people could ever feed their captive Savannah Monitors...
Dog food, Cat food, Canned anything! Why? Read this link http://www.savannahmonitor.co/stpp/
Chicken parts, ground Turkey, animal parts.
Boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, cooked foods
The above items are not nutritionally complete, canned goods are almost all treated with chemicals, therefore the above items should be avoided.
Failure to provide these basic requirements will result in your animal languishing and ultimately perishing from dehydration related complications or other health issues and dying a gruesome death.
SUMMARY OF A PROPERLY SUPPORTED SAVANNAH MONITOR
Minimum cage size 8 feet x 4 feet x 4 feet or bigger
Deep sandy soil floor to support digging burrows
Hot basking area of 55 degrees (C) or hotter.
60% average humidity or higher
large water dish (Changed daily or more)
several hiding areas located throughout the cage.
6500K and supplemental UV lighting, it should be well lighted during the daytime cycle to simulate a sunny afternoon in Africa.
FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
1. Virtually all of the videos posted on youtube are HORRIBLE examples of how you should take care of a Savannah Monitor.
2.Nearly all of those animals shown in those videos are sick, lethargic, overweight blobs that are close to dying.
3. When you pick up a monitor and it closes it's eyes, it is NOT relaxed, nor does this mean the animal "trusts" you. What this means is the poor lizard is so terrified, it is trying to pretend you are not there.
4. It is possible to raise a very tractable Savannah Monitor that will behave itself for you, but you must build trust gradually and never force yourself on the animal.
5. Most care sheets are filled with incorrect and often very outdated information and should be ignored.
6. Failure to provide ample basking temperatures and sufficient soil for burrowing is stressful to the lizard's internal organs and leads to gout.
WISE WORDS
That cute little lizard from the pet store will one day grow up to become a ferocious beast that could snap your family cat's neck and swallow it whole!
ALL INFO WAS COPIED FROM (www.savannahmonitor.co) PLEASE VISIT THE SITE FOR MORE INFO ABOUT PROPER BOSC MONITOR CARE
