Savannah Monitor as a first time monitor

I was wondering, is it a good idea to have a savannah monitor as a first time monitor. I am not planning on getting one soon, but I am seriously thinking of getting one when I am adult and can take of one. I hear all these stories about people having bad experiences with savs and some who say it is easy to tame them. I want to know from sav owners, are they hard to care as babies temperament wise, and are they hard to tame. Food and caging is not an issue. I love reptiles and I am really thinking of getting a sav in the future, but is it okay to get one of these beautiful lizards as a first time monitor. If they are not, plz tell what other monitors are good to start out with.
Plz reply, all comments and replies r appreciated

p.s. I have lizard experience but not with monitors
thnk you

If you're asking about 'taming' a monitor, I don't think a savannah is the right choice for you. Maybe a puppy? Keep in mind you're talking about a wild animal here.

The go to first monitor recommendation is Varanus acanthurus with good reason. They stay a reasonable size, are forgiving of husbandry error and are surprisingly interactive. I just want to point out that interactive is MUCH different than 'tame'.

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Originally Posted by RyanLuvSnakez

I was wondering, is it a good idea to have a savannah monitor as a first time monitor. I am not planning on getting one soon, but I am seriously thinking of getting one when I am adult and can take of one. I hear all these stories about people having bad experiences with savs and some who say it is easy to tame them. I want to know from sav owners, are they hard to care as babies temperament wise, and are they hard to tame. Food and caging is not an issue. I love reptiles and I am really thinking of getting a sav in the future, but is it okay to get one of these beautiful lizards as a first time monitor. If they are not, plz tell what other monitors are good to start out with.
Plz reply, all comments and replies r appreciated

p.s. I have lizard experience but not with monitors
thnk you

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Stick to ackies and tristis as first monitors. The front page of this sub-forum has enough posts to get this point across to even the most casual reader:

Savs are not first time monitors.

Most people do not have bad experiences (compared to how the animal ultimately fares). People who don't do their homework, don't buy from reputable resources and don't do their due diligence and then end up completely underestimating the time and expense that goes into properly keeping these animals.






If I had a dollar for every one who claimed food and caging were not an issue..............

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

Savs are not first time monitors.

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Too bad Petco doesn't realize this. When I was there last night I saw a very limp and listless Savannah Monitor wasting away.

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Originally Posted by babyknees

Too bad Petco doesn't realize this. When I was there last night I saw a very limp and listless Savannah Monitor wasting away.

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I work at petco, and believe me, it's a constant struggle with management to not order specific animals. At least savs aren't part of the regular planogram, so stores are not expected to order them.

Bad first monitor.They are all wild caught,and most have long term health issues that show up as soon as they are Set up properly or later in life.there are a few people breeding Akies,Tristis,and Argus.

Akies would be a better choice as they think they are a big monitor.They also are great to learn basic monitor husbandry from as the will do everything in front of you.


Greg

I've never owned an exanthematicus, but I wouldn't recommend them as a first monitor. Sounds like you're looking for a medium sized lizard that you can "tame". I'd recommend Tupinambis merianae for that.

If monitors are your cup of tea, however, certainly stick with captive bred acanthurus. Awesome little guys when kept properly.

Chris

Wild caught and loaded with problems from the start. Needs a specified diet that will be costly and time consuming to either buy or raise yourself (all insects/inverts). Large size and needing a large cage to be housed properly. The need for very high temps/humidity. While you may be able to keep a sav alive in sub optimal conditions for a few years, he will probably end up just like the huge majority of captive bosc monitors- dead.

Bosc monitors are very specific animals, they require a lot more than people make them out to need. They are probably the most neglected varanid available to the hobby, I'd say far less than 1% ever even break 1-2 years of age. If you are set on monitors, look at ackies. Much more stable captives, more forgiving, and don't require as much as a sav does.

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Originally Posted by gbassett

Bad first monitor.They are all wild caught,and most have long term health issues that show up as soon as they are Set up properly or later in life.there are a few people breeding Akies,Tristis,and Argus.

Akies would be a better choice as they think they are a big monitor.They also are great to learn basic monitor husbandry from as the will do everything in front of you.


Greg

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Saying they are ALL WC is a little over the top. I have seen some reputable breeders with CBB Savannah monitors. People in the US do breed them but the majority of them are WC unfortunantly.

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Originally Posted by Reps4life

Saying they are ALL WC is a little over the top. I have seen some reputable breeders with CBB Savannah monitors. People in the US do breed them but the majority of them are WC unfortunantly.

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I highly doubt it.I only know of 3 captive breeding events in the last 8 years.I ravi,the guy who wrote the Savanna monitor book with Daniel Bennett.A 16 year old kid did it about 3 years ago.and then there was a guy in florda,who no one believed until he showed pictures of them coming out of the egg.Now I'm not saying it dose not happen,but unless they can produce pictures if them hatching out of the egg,they are probably lying.(and those ones from outbackreptiles don't count,that was just cruel)


Greg

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Originally Posted by gbassett

I highly doubt it.I only know of 3 captive breeding events in the last 8 years.I ravi,the guy who wrote the Savanna monitor book with Daniel Bennett.A 16 year old kid did it about 3 years ago.and then there was a guy in florda,who no one believed until he showed pictures of them coming out of the egg.Now I'm not saying it dose not happen,but unless they can produce pictures if them hatching out of the egg,they are probably lying.(and those ones from outbackreptiles don't count,that was just cruel)


Greg

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Lol @ anyone who still trusts/buys from outback reptiles these days.

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Originally Posted by Reps4life

Saying they are ALL WC is a little over the top. I have seen some reputable breeders with CBB Savannah monitors. People in the US do breed them but the majority of them are WC unfortunantly.

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Who breeds them?

I know people who claimed to breed them......but almost all of them are full of crap.

Sooooo, if there is a reliable source of captive bred savs in the U.S., please share with us the name(s).

In march of 2010, Natalie of Calypso Morphs hatched a clutch of savs from her 2. They haven't bred since then that i know of or before that one time but she does have pics posted all over of it. I only know this because she's both on my myspace and FB pages and I've seen the photos of the mating, eggs, hatching, and babies.

Of course, at the time the adults were not in "proper" enclosures but it did happen. Fluke? Maybe. But it proves its possible.

I had a savannah (as a rescue because he was biting and clawing) and an ackie (intentionally obtained) and I have to tell you, an ackie has all of the piss and vinegar of a savannah, and even then some. They're like the weiner dog that thinks he's a Doberman when someone comes to the door.

They cost more upfront but their caging and food are cheaper, even the mean ones are not that tough to handle, and they're cute. They will puff up their necks and hiss like a big monitor but they're still an easy one person job to wrangle. Just like other monitors they can be good to handle but they still make you work for it.

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

In march of 2010, Natalie of Calypso Morphs hatched a clutch of savs from her 2. They haven't bred since then that i know of or before that one time but she does have pics posted all over of it. I only know this because she's both on my myspace and FB pages and I've seen the photos of the mating, eggs, hatching, and babies.

Of course, at the time the adults were not in "proper" enclosures but it did happen. Fluke? Maybe. But it proves its possible.

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It's not that it's not possible, it's just that it's extremely rare. I've seen Natalie's photos also.

Is it a fluke? No. The vast majority of these animals don't even make it to breeding age and those that do are usually in no condition to breed. There's no reason to expect that as people being keeping these animals more competently, more CB babies will hit the scene.

There have been scammers all over the place selling what they claim are CBB exanthematicus. The point is that 99.9% of the savs sold in this country are WC and loaded with more bugs than you can shake a bottle of panacur at.

In the meantime, with the exception of the isolated events, there is no reliable source of CB savs in this country. No one is supplying the pet stores with a yearly clutches of CB savs - they are almost always WC and the CB birthings are so rare that people make a huge issue out of posting pics of the clutches in order to avoid being called out.

One nice thing if you do go the ackie route instead of the savannah....

If you do get bitten by the breeding bug (and almost all of us do) the ackie is easier to breed and the babies are worth more when you decide that you really don't want to keep them all.

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Originally Posted by RyanLuvSnakez

I was wondering, is it a good idea to have a savannah monitor as a first time monitor. I am not planning on getting one soon, but I am seriously thinking of getting one when I am adult and can take of one. I hear all these stories about people having bad experiences with savs and some who say it is easy to tame them. I want to know from sav owners, are they hard to care as babies temperament wise, and are they hard to tame. Food and caging is not an issue. I love reptiles and I am really thinking of getting a sav in the future, but is it okay to get one of these beautiful lizards as a first time monitor. If they are not, plz tell what other monitors are good to start out with.
Plz reply, all comments and replies r appreciated

p.s. I have lizard experience but not with monitors
thnk you

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My first lizard was a young savannah monitor I purchased from a chain pet store. Never had a moments trouble with him, he was calm, sweet and engaging. I had him for better than 15 years without a single health problem.

i have quite a few monitors and my sav is very pissy and is not WC. i don’t think its CBB i believe it must be CH or something because when i got it it was sold as a hatch ling savannah monitor which it was. since then it quadrupled in size in less than a year. When it is an adult it will get its 8x9x6 cage. My recommendation would be Dumeril's monitor. they don’t get as big as sav but are defiantly bigger than ackies. They’re nice compared to other types of monitors but not nice compared to lizards in general.