THAT is a hot spot

You do realize that first study was form 1964??


I dont understand why it has to be such a pissing contest.

Feed your damn monitor whatever you want. Talk to 99.9999% of monitor breeders....see what they say.

There is no pissing contest here at all Patrick just teaching you something not so "new".

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Originally Posted by slayer

There is no pissing contest here at all Patrick just teaching you something not so "new".

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Yea... everyone knows they knew more about reptiles in the 60's than they do now. Silly Patrick :8:

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Originally Posted by Hulihzack

Yea... everyone knows they knew more about reptiles in the 60's than they do now. Silly Patrick :8:

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So you're suggesting that in the past 50 years V. Exanthematicus has gone through an evolutionary spurt and re-adapted to a vertebrate diet???

Looks like he totally hates inverts...
YouTube - I laugh when people say they are slow

BTW the basking spot there is about 147f currently.

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Talk to 99.9999% of monitor breeders....see what they say.

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hrm... are those youtube experts like this?
YouTube - Sunny's New Cage

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So you're suggesting that in the past 50 years V. Exanthematicus has gone through an evolutionary spurt and re-adapted to a vertebrate diet???

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Really? Thats the only reason you can come up with that explains why the information is outdated. I read a book that was published in the 1960's saying small wooden boxes with just a lamp over top was fine for all snakes. Oh and they said hobbyists could keep their snakes on a diet of raw strips of meat bought from the grocery store.

It is not becuase they have evolved, but because your knowledge and research has evolved. What we thought we knew 50 years ago is almost comical now.

Old research becomes outdated. We have researched, studied and observed new ways of keeping our herps, and for the most part these ways are better and help our herps to thrive.

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Originally Posted by redstormlax12

Really? Thats the only reason you can come up with that explains why the information is outdated. I read a book that was published in the 1960's saying small wooden boxes with just a lamp over top was fine for all snakes. Oh and they said hobbyists could keep their snakes on a diet of raw strips of meat bought from the grocery store.

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No I just think you're comparing apples to oranges....

One - a scientific study done in the wild with little to nothing that can be assumed.... stomach contents are stomach contents.... you're suggesting that their findings were either wrong... or have changed.

versus

Two - books written by herptoculturalist that are based on theory, trial and error, and a LOT of assumptions muddled

Personally I would stick with the first since it's based on facts not speculations and until I see otherwise in regards to field research then the 1960's data stands. Which as of last year the only reports I've heard from people tracking/observing them in the wild seems to support the original data.

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It is not becuase they have evolved, but because your knowledge and research has evolved. What we thought we knew 50 years ago is almost comical now.

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so where is this current research?

What im not understanding is how the second two reports i linked (by Daniel Bennett) which were published since 2000 are being ignored/disregarded.

I guess

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Originally Posted by Patrick Long

I have owned several monitor species.....and NONE of them...were on an Insect based diet.

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trumps any actual scientific studys on the subject lol :)

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Originally Posted by slayer

What im not understanding is how the second two reports i linked (by Daniel Bennett) which were published since 2000 are being ignored/disregarded.

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Oops didn't see those... but guess just adds to my point... there hasn't been anything since 1960 to prove he original findings false... in fact subsequent studies have only provided further evidence to support the original study.

Thanks Slayer for the info.

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I have owned several monitor species.....and NONE of them...were on an Insect based diet.

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Not all Monitors have the same diet.

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trumps any actual scientific studys on the subject lol

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LOL

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Originally Posted by Patrick Long

. Talk to 99.9999% of monitor breeders....see what they say.

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I have spoken to a few people who do breed monitors,and the only 2 that have actually hatched out Savanna monitors feed mostly insects.I'm not against the rodent diet,just for Savannas(and a few other species)

The study that is being quoted here was done in the early 2000s


But as you said go ahead and feed your Savanna what you want,just don't complain when it is dead in a few years.And dont advise others that is what they should feed there's

Greg

Interesting little debate here.

Yes we know exanthematicus has a primarily insectivorous diet in the wild.

Komodoensis has a primarily carrion based diet in the wild.

I've seen video of wild salvator feeding on stuff so rotten you wouldn't be able to stomach the smell.

I am also willing to bet that my ornatus would never encounter a domestic rat in the wilds of Africa.

Truth be told, if varanids are provided the proper basking temperatures and room for exercise, there isn't much they cannot digest.

I haven't heard of SDZ diet being found in the wild, yet many varanids thrive on it.

There's my 2 cents.

Chris

ps - that video of "Sunny's new cage" is absolutely deplorable. It doesn't look like a rabbit lives in there to me...