How much should he eat now

[wendy5391]

Ok Chaka my savy is doing really well I believe. He is shedding alot and seems to be eating great. I would like to know how much should I be feeding him per feeding? I am feeding him 2 mice every other day plus crickets in between...He is about 22" long and I would say maybe 7-8 months old, im not sure. Anyhow let me know?
Also he got a lump like bump a few months ago on his cheek area under his eye. It is hard, I took him to the vet and he couldnt figure it out. It doesnt seem to bother Chaka so I just am leaving it for now. Is that ok as well?

[Python-77]

I would slow down on the amount of mice he is getting and increase the crickets savvy's rarely eat mice in the wild and in captivity it tends to blow them up fast. My sav is about 9 months old eats crickets daily and a mouse every 2 weeks, he is abut 12" long. I try to keep him as close as I can to what he would eat in the wild. Oh and pics pics pics please I love seeing other sav's

[elevatethis]

I agree.

I know it is very difficult to lay off feeding mice, mainly because of how entertaining...err..primal it is to watch a monitor lizard thrash a mouse or rat around and cough it down! I have yet to see a captive adult savannah monitor that isn't at least somewhat overweight. This comes from the overfeeding of rodents and is a major problem with savannahs in particular.

Its okay to feed rodents once or twice a week. If you notice you savannah being relatively inactive, skip a rodent meal. These animals are voracious eaters and will willingly take a more appropriate food source if their preferred source suddenly drops off.

Its better to keep a monitor anticipating their meals than to overfeed them. An overfed monitor is a lazy monitor, not good for their overall health.

[wendy5391]

Ok thank you very much. I will definately do that. So are you thinking 3 mice a week or less?
As far as a pic is concerned how do you post them?

[Python-77]

Wendy to answer your email to me, some savs will be jerks all the time when you go to get them out of there enclosure but will calm right down once held, to fix that I really dont think you can I have a sav that does it and several snakes that will hiss when I reach in but are calm as it gets once out. I would really feed him mice no more than 1-2 a week and load him up on crickets Savs tend to get real fat real fast on mice and dont get the exercise they need chasing down the crickets.