# Lizards > Monitors and Tegus >  my savannah monitor caresheet

## varanidguy

Savannah Monitor
(Varanus exanthematicus)

Written by Shane Wilson AKA varanidguy
e-mail: varanidguy@hotmail.com
AIM: VaranidGuy2

Introduction: Savannah Monitors are of a stalky build.  They are very powerful, completely carnivorous, and demand a lot of respect and care.  Adult savannahs reach about a 3 to 4 foot average total length.  They can get bigger, but typically don't.  If you care for your monitor correctly, you should have a lizard that lives 15-20 years and is an absolute joy to have around.

Choosing your Savannah Monitor: When you make the decision to purchase a savannah monitor, you want to look for certain things that show you it's overall health.  First, you want to pick an animal that does not have it's hips showing.  A full tail with thick back legs indicate that it's well fed and has plenty of reserves.  Another thing you want to look for is clear and alert eyes.  If the eyes appear to be cloudy or half open, that could indicate a problem.  Make sure that the animal doesn't have stuck shed around the toes or tail tip.  If there is stuck shed, that could indicate poor humidity in it's environment which could mean a dehydrated animal.  Also, if the animal is constantly soaking in it's waterbowl that is a sign of dehydration.  Look for fecal matter dried on or around it's vent, back legs, and tail.  If it has dried fecal matter, that's a sign that it has runny stools which could mean a parasite bloom and would require a vet visit to fix.

Housing: You want a solid lid cage for your monitor.  Screen tops let out too much humidity and will dehydrate a baby savannah very quickly which could lead to a very early death.  It is ok to start out with a big cage, 4'x2'x2' (LxWxH) are good dimensions for a starter cage.  You want to use a good 8 to 12 inches of soil that will hold burrows.  When your monitor reaches 20 to 24 inches in total length, it is a good idea to upgrade it into it's adult size enclosure which should be 8'x4'x4' (LxWxH) with about 2 feet of burrowable substrate.  It is safe and actually sometimes a good idea to raise 2 or 3 savannah monitors together to adulthood.  But, housing multiple animals together should only be done when all of them are well fed and have enough room to live and multiple basking sites just in case they need to get away from each other.  If you are lucky and do things right with raising multiple animals, you might be captively breeding savannah monitors within 2 years of raising your animals.

For hide spots, you want to use flat or very slightly curved pieces of wood.  Terracotta dishes used to put under plant pots work well too.  If you use a terracotta dish, you want to turn it upside down, and chip a hole out of the side of it with a hammer or similar instrument.  Then sand down any sharp edges that may accidently cut your monitor and voila, you have a tight hide spot that will make the savannah feel safe until it can create burrows.  For babies espcially, you want to have multiple hiding areas as they are very afraid to go out into big open vasts.  If it cannot hide or feel secure, that will stress the animal out.

Lighting: Monitors do not require UVB bulbs if they are kept and fed properly.  The only bulbs you need are heat lamps.  What you want to do is buy flood lamps (avoid the ones with a clear center as that concentrates the light and creates massive hot spots that can and will burn your animals).  Anywhere from 50 to 75 watts but you shouldn't use anything above 75 watts.  Lights that are high wattage that produce a lot of heat can actually produce too much heat.  Eventhough your basking temps might be right, that huge 150 watt spot lamp is sucking all the moisture out of the air and could cause your monitor to dehydrate.  You want the lamps to be anywhere from 4 to 8 inches away from the basking site that way you can control basking site temps.  It's best to have 2-3 lower wattage bulbs next to each other so you can create a large enough basking site so your monitor can heat it's head, body, limbs, tail, everything rather than just it's back.  For babies, it's ok to have just 1 since that should be able to cover the entirety of the baby.  You can leave your lights on 24 hours if you wish to because your monitor will retreat to a burrow or tight hide spot to sleep and the light will not disturb this behavior.  If the cage is in your room and you can't sleep with the light always on, switch to a ceramic heater only at night time.  Monitors recognize light first and heat second when it comes to basking.

Heating and temps: The best source for heating supplies for monitors is home depot.  They sell the fixtures and the bulbs that you need and you won't have to pay outrageous pet store prices.  The temps for a baby savannah should be between 120 to 130º F basking temps (these are surface temps, not air temps).  The ambient on the cool end can range from 75-85º F.  To measure surface temps and any other temp inside the cage, you want two tools.  A temp gun is a must for measuring surface temps, and should be purchased BEFORE you purchase any animals.  The other is a digital thermometer with a probe so you can constantly monitor ambient temps and check burrow temps easily.  When your monitor reaches approximately 18 to 20 inches in total length, it's safe (and i recommend it) to bump your basking temps up to approximately 140º F.  If you are a degree or two above or below you should be fine so long as your basking temps do not go above 150º F.  If they reach 150º or above, you should do something to lower the basking temps a bit.  At night, your temps shouldn't fall below 75º F at the coolest and you should always have some form of 24 hour heat so the hotter end doesn't fall below 90 to 95º F at night.

Substrate: For monitors of all ages and size, there is one substrate that will keep them optimally.  That is soil.  You can dig up soil from your back yard or mix your own.  You want soil that will hold burrows firmly and you want it to be deep.  8 to 12 inches for babies and juveniles, 18 to 24 inches for adults.  You want a soil that is devoid of clay because clay will cling to toes and tail tips and cut off blood circulation resulting in the loss of digits.  If you are unsure of what to dig up, a store bought mix of 50% topsoil, 25% playsand, and 25% cypress mulch fines works very well.  Some people say 75% topsoil 25% sand but I recommend this particular 50/25/25 mixture because the mulch acts as a binding agent and will help hold burrows much better and females may even possibly next in this mixture.

When you put the substrate in the enclosure, you want to wet it down.  After a while, the surface of the substrate should become dry while under that dry layer it remains moist and humid.  That is optimal because it will allow your monitor to go into it's burrows for humidity which keeps your monitor hydrated, and also allows it to get out of the humidity and dry out when it needs and/or wants to.

Feeding and diet: The diet of a savannah monitor is very simple.  All it needs to thrive is feeder insects and rodents.  Feed your baby lizard a staple of invertebrates, crickets and meal worms working perfectly, while giving it a pinky mouse once or twice a week.  You can feed your baby lizard 5 or 6 days a week as they have very fast metabolisms and are growing extremely quick.  Once your lizard reaches a large enough size, you can switch it to a staple diet of mice (quail and chicks work too).  You don't have to, however, as the insects will also work fine.  When the lizard reaches about a year old, you want to start feeding it a bit less.  Instead of 5 or 6 days a week, cut it to 3 or 4 days a week.  

The one thing you want to keep in mind while feeding your savannah monitor (or any other monitor for that matter) is that they are designed to eat whole bodied prey.  Whole rodents, whole bugs, whole birds.  These are the things that will give your monitor all the nutrition that it needs throughout it's entire life.  Things like liver, beef heart, fish filets, ground turkey, etc are not going to give your monitor the nutrition it needs to thrive in a captive environment.  Another thing is that monitors do not have the ability to naturally cook things for themselves, so if you're going to give your monitor an egg, just give it to them raw.  The eggs you want to use, if you're going to offer eggs, are quail eggs and free range organic chicken eggs (they're usually the brown kind).  Once you get an idea of what's good for your monitor and what isn't, you can start offering different food items.  But even if you don't, a staple of rodents and bugs will work for the animal's entire life.

Water: Fresh water should be available at all times.  Sometimes monitors can be messy and the bowl can require cleaning more than once a day.  A water bowl big enough for the monitor to fit into is needed.  If your monitor becomes dehydrated, it may start deficating in the water, soaking itself all the time in the water, or even sleeping in the water.  If your monitor does this, it's an indication of a dehydrated animal and you need to look at your husbandry and fix something quickly.  But, do not be alarmed if your monitor takes a dip in the water or *occasionally* uses it for a toilet.  If your monitor just occasionally uses the water bowl as a toilet but isn't consistent with doing so at all, chances are that's just where your monitor felt like pooping that time.

Bathing: Bathing or soaking your monitors forcefully is never necessary.  If you have a healthy animal that's kept properly, it will keep itself properly hydrated and never need a bath.

Disinfecting: The only thing you really need to disinfect while cleaning is the water bowl.  You can use a diluted bleach solution that's about 25% bleach and 75% water to clean out the water bowl.  I personally use Virosan because it's very mild and can actually be sprayed directly onto the monitor's skin without ill effects.  Virosan can even be used to treat minor cuts, scrapes, and bites on both you and the animal.

Hygiene: Hand washing is something that should not be overlooked.  Wash your hands before interaction with your monitor so you don't get confused for something you're not or give something undesired to your monitor.  Wash your hands afterwards so the monitor doesn't give something undesired to you.  Use a scentless soap before interaction but afterwards, hand sanitizer will do.

Taming your monitor:  Never force handle your monitor.  They have excellent memories and will remember every time you have violated, offended, or molested them in any way.  It is imperative that you do not disturb your animal while it's hiding.  It is hiding for a reason and if you let it have that security, your monitor will be less afraid and therefor less likely to be aggressive towards you.  While the monitor is out and about, put your hand in it's cage and make a closed fist.  Their curious nature will take over and they will come to inspect you.  Do not be alarmed if your monitor comes up and starts flicking your hand with it's tongue.  It's only smelling you and trying to figure out if you are friend or foe.  Try not to make any sudden movements and you can try talking to it so it can get used to the sound of your voice.  Looking them directly in the eyes may tell them that you are a predator, so sometimes with certain animals you have to look at their back or tail while you are attempting this at first.  

Once the monitor has come up to you several times to inspect, try offering it food from tongs.  When you offer it the food from the tongs, make it come near you to get it's meal.  When it comes to you without problems for it's meal, lure it on top of your hand for it's meal.  Then up to your forearm etc.  When it's on your hand or arm, try lifting it a bit (without restraining it) so it can get used to you lifting it off the ground.  But not too high because if your monitor gets frightened, you don't want it to fall too far and hurt itself.  Eventually your monitor will learn that you are not a threat and that you are actually the key to it's exploration of a new and interesting world outside of it's cage.  It's a long but very rewarding process when you actually earn the trust of the wild animal that is your monitor.

General: Before purchasing your savannah monitor, remember that they get to a decent size and are very powerful.  They can eat a lot and require a good deal of space.  If you are reading this and thinking that a savannah monitor is too much but you still want a monitor lizard, perhaps consider buying an ackie.  Ackies are much smaller, don't eat as much, require less room, and are extremely hardy animals.  If you decide to still go with a savannah, just keep in mind it's requirements and you will have a healthy happy lizard that you will enjoy for years to come.  

Cheers.


tell me what you think.  constructive criticism is welcome.

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## munding

wow!! nice info sir!! thank you! :Good Job:  :Good Job:  :Good Job:

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## varanidguy

> wow!! nice info sir!! thank you!


thank you, sir!  i do the best that i can which is all anybody can really do.  hopefully this will get published in the caresheets section.   :Salute:

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## munding

wow! thanks for all the info! i bought a digital therm and it reads 100 degrees f on the basking area!

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## varanidguy

> wow! thanks for all the info! i bought a digital therm and it reads 100 degrees f on the basking area!


a temp gun or the one with a probe?

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## munding

> a temp gun or the one with a probe?


the one with the probe.

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## varanidguy

> the one with the probe.


get a temp gun ASAP to take surface temps.  http://www.tempgun.com or even radioshack

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## varanidguy

to the top

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## Jessica25

I've recently rescued an adult male Savannah monitor. Lucky he is really nice and gentle. He has huge scabs on his back that recently fell off. The largest scab just came of, it looks worst then the rest. But i think it's just superficial wounds. His front left leg is swollen, it has went down a lot since i received  him bout a month and a half ago. He has had diarrhea since i received him. I thought that was because his stomach is use to eating hot dogs, boiled eggs, and a fuzzy once a month. I give him what he should eat RAW eggs, medium to large rat, fish, ect.. He sleeps  so much, if he isn't sleeping he just sits there like a logs. He hates to be in his cage so i have my room 80°-90°F and i have his spot light (Heat and UVA/UVB )at the end of my bed for him to bask under. Also i have a UVA/UVB  light  along with my sealing light. Is it ok he sleeps 75% of the day?

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## eatgoodfood

Or you could go here and get the best care information there is.    http://www.savannahmonitor.co/  not saying yours is bad...

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## OctagonGecko729

> I've recently rescued an adult male Savannah monitor. Lucky he is really nice and gentle. He has huge scabs on his back that recently fell off. The largest scab just came of, it looks worst then the rest. But i think it's just superficial wounds. His front left leg is swollen, it has went down a lot since i received him bout a month and a half ago. He has had diarrhea since i received him. I thought that was because his stomach is use to eating hot dogs, boiled eggs, and a fuzzy once a month. I give him what he should eat RAW eggs, medium to large rat, fish, ect.. He sleeps so much, if he isn't sleeping he just sits there like a logs. He hates to be in his cage so i have my room 80°-90°F and i have his spot light (Heat and UVA/UVB )at the end of my bed for him to bask under. Also i have a UVA/UVB light along with my sealing light. Is it ok he sleeps 75% of the day?


I'd take him to a vet first. 

How large is this savannah? Their diet should mostly consist of invertebrates not eggs, rats, and fish. These things are ok from time to time though. 

Monitors are very active animals and if yours is sleeping for 75% of the day that really doesn't indicate very good health. 

Keeping the animal in a room loose is not a good idea either, even with you keeping the room at 80-90F and putting in a basking light. 

Go to the link provided by the above poster and make him a wooden cage that will contain heat and humidity properly.

Please post some pictures of both the animal and his living arrangements.

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## dgring

> Or you could go here and get the best care information there is.    http://www.savannahmonitor.co/  not saying yours is bad...


A bit mean... this guy clearly put a lot of effort into it

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## ironpython

Great post

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

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