Thinking about gettin a sav.

[DSGB]

So my lps has a very healthy looking savannah up there. I had a savannah when i was younger and had to get rid of it cause i moved. this one is about a foot and a half long. I know they need lots of room and ive read the "care sheets". I know there isnt really a set care sheet for a monitor but i got the basic idea. The guy at the store said he is pretty aggressive, but i know they dont have to time there to handle it. so my questions are.

How hard is it to "tame" a aggressive savannah?

and

Id love to see your set ups.

[wishexotics]

In my opinion savs are great, but not the best first monitor. I have owned a couple. They eat a ton and take alot of time to keep tame, clean and healthy. Before anyone gets one they should read Daniel Bennett & Ravi Thakoordyal's book The Savannah Monitor Lizard. It can be purchased cheap on amazon or some other book site. It is the bible for savannahs. Do not impluse buy. Do you research until your comfortable with you knowledge. Also get all your supplies together. Your location for your cage and get it built or bought and setup. Make sure you find a good source for roaches, crickets, worms and the occasional rat. I know alot of people feed rat diets or "monitor" diet. I think this is wrong considering they don't eat any of that in the wild and most of the savs in captivity are wild caught. One good source for insects is the great outdoors. If you can find a safe pesticide free zone, you can catch grasshoppers and any other bugs you might find. Make sure they are no poisonous. Savannahs eat scorpions in the wild. They have become immune to them so they can eat them. They also will take giant african millipedes. These would be a good supplement, but very expensive for a meal. Roaches are best with great protien and fat content. Plus they tend to be healthy and easy to start your own colony. Savannahs also use a good about of electricity to keep them hot. I suggest and only use high quality UVB/UVA spot. Tube lights are pointless. They don't put off enough of the uvb/uva they need. You should also use repcal with d3 for insect dusting. Daniel Bennett's book is amazing it is a must for any monitor owner. There are also a ton of other great monitor books out there, but they are expensive and hard to find. Feel free to pm with questions. GOOD LUCK! Happy Monitor keeping.

[bonheki]

Dont worry about aggresive monitors because you shouldent be playing with them in the first place ( well once every now and then is ok but not on a daily ocasion )
A 8X4X4 or bigger will be a suitable cage for them you will need at least 18 inches of dirt 2 ft is perfect. As for water a small water bowl is fine, basking spot of 135 F
what alse feed every other day once he/she is an adult as for when hes a baby/ juvinile feed everyday crickets, pinkies, worms roaches and move on to bigger things as he grows.
I just think its not worth it, get an ackie they are fine in a 4X2X4 cage and are a lot easyer and cheaper to keep.
I got my albig when he was 12 inches at a reptile show 4-5 months later hes 3ft and can pack one big bite and tail whip not only that hes gonna keep growing ( I hope he gets 5-6 ft )
Anyway his poops are huge, makes a mess in his cage, and is friendly every now and then but 80% of the time hes pissy he doesnt bite but loves to tail whip everyone and anyone lol
As for ackies they are a small monitor but with a big monitor attitude.

[jknudson]

Get Daniel Bennett and Ravi Thakoordyal's book "The Savannah Monitor Lizard". This book is the best of the best for information on Savs/Blackthroats/Whitethroats.

http://www.proexotics.com/store/prod...roductid=16155

[DSGB]

I just think its not worth it, get an ackie they are fine in a 4X2X4 cage and are a lot easyer and cheaper to keep.

Do you know any breeders? And thanks for the info.

[Royal_Rodents]

as listed above pro exotics is a great place to get moniters other then that i don't know

[wishexotics]

There are only a couple of breeders of savanahs in the us. CBB animals are very rare. BHB is one breeder. You can contact Brian and ask. He is working with the albino Savs. Pro Exotics use to breed savs but no longer do, because the high volume of imports and the low cost of them. It takes alot to time, and money to breed monitors. Someday with any hope people will breed them and we can cut down on the imports. We can't hold our hopes high though. I would suggest adopting a savannah there are plenty out there that need homes.

[bonheki]

Do you know any breeders? And thanks for the info.

I know a few ackie breeders but I lost contact with them because I forgot the name of the forums they were on ( I had to redo my computer and lost my favs on my computer )
Anyway you can find plenty of ackies for sale on www.kingsnake.com
on the monitor/tegu classifieds all ackies are cbb witch beats all wc savs

[DSGB]

I know a few ackie breeders but I lost contact with them because I forgot the name of the forums they were on ( I had to redo my computer and lost my favs on my computer )
Anyway you can find plenty of ackies for sale on www.kingsnake.com
on the monitor/tegu classifieds all ackies are cbb witch beats all wc savs

i figured thats where id have to go. Are most people reputable on there? i have never bought anything off kingsnake

[bonheki]

Yea most of the breeders their are good nice people and reliable I would just play email tag with some of them to find out when they are born how they are doing ext ext ( allways ask for pics )
Here are some people I would buy an ackie from
Switzer reptiles
http://switzerreptiles.com/
If you want a adult heres a nice male
http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.p...=53&de=588794\
Another one
http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=53&de=617036
Thoes are some ackies their more out their for sale but if I were you I would buy an adult or a big juvinile because babys are too small ( and you can hurt them )
and really fast so they can run away from you adults are biger and more handable.
Another monitor I suggest you look into are black headed monitors they are also dwarf monitors and are pretty cool to have.
( I suggest buying an adult or big juvinile for these to because of the same reasons )

Heres a nice one ( prehistoric pets )
http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=53&de=621537