This is great stuff. It's tough watching impulse purchases of animals come into rough situations when people leave town. I waited also, like you're talking about, and I was dying inside without the ability to keep animals until I finished school.
You're correct, it's hard to believe. A lot of the misinformation about Savannah Monitors comes from the snake world, people tend to believe what works for one reptile works for another. Feeding a monitor a large meal with a long fasting duration in between encourages the storage of fat, leading to more obesity, leading to health issues. In the wild they forage for insects and mollusks throughout the day, and stay more lean (and live longer).
+1, I'm actually taking lunch now and heading to the local Korean market myself.