*puts on scolding suit* I had done so good with my water monitor...

[Skiploder]

Well Skip, I definately appreciate the fact that you were not rude in any way with your reply. People like you always get a much more attentive group of students when passing on your knowledge. I hope you can understand my reason for giving the advice I did. If it were my baby sav I would want to get some reserves on the little guy fast and I would not want to cause any harm in the process. Having specialized digestive systems I dont think that would happen but when you mention digestive system it makes me wonder if they might get the runs from such an easily digestable meal. I guess thats possible and if I am ever faced with a problem like this I will remember your reply.

So I now have a question. Is there a better alternative if you want to get some reserves on a thin baby fast? What about things like pheonix worms and silks? Very high in nutrients, protein and calcium and one of the very best foods for certain other lizards. Would this work the same way? Or is something with an exoskeleton required? Do they need more keratin?

I think that the advice has been given in this thread by a couple of posters along with an excellent link.

Provide a proper temperature gradient, proper substrate, proper humidity, proper security and a properly sized enclosure. Make sure that any parasite load is dealt with and the animal will thrive.

As for diet, while we don't have access to african invertebrates per se, we can make do from insects available in order to replicate that diet as closely as possible. My savannah monitor was raised on smaller roaches and crickets. As he got larger, we moved up to larger roaches (we're lucky enough to live close enough to Mr. Tuttle of Blaberus.com and were able to get breeding colonies going for our ackies and the sav.

A healthy baby will eat and put on the appropriate amount of weight. The problem with most savs is that they are heavily parasitized and are often fed pinky and other crap from the pet stores or middle men that sell them. Once they are cleaned up, put in the proper environment and fed a proper diet, they don't need to bulked up.