How and what to feed them?

In addition to the environment, the most important issue for a novice monitor lizard keeper is usually the choice of the right food.
Fortunately, it’s not all that much of a mystery and you can find plenty of suitable treats for your pet.
Many of them are real opportunists (e.g. varanus similis) and will eat anything in sight… Many are picky eaters, it’s hard to find a snack they like… It’s up to you to experiment and learn what they will accept and reject!

But what are the foods you can choose from?
Not to be exhaustive:
– cockroaches
– locusts
– crickets
– day-old mice
– newborn rat
– egg
– fish, crabs
– poultry meat
– larvae

One thing to keep in mind when putting together your pet’s diet: always choose the right size food for its age! They are able to gobble up bites much bigger than their mouths! Why is this a problem?
You’ve probably read about it, but if you haven’t, know that they feed in a similar way to snakes! They don’t chew (they use their claws to cut, but that doesn’t really chop up the food), they swallow the food whole. So, if you get a big chunk, it can easily get caught in the throat of your greedy little critter!

And one last piece of advice!
Less vertebrates, more insects! Yes, yes… They love meat… But! If they eat too much they get fat and their activity levels drop significantly. It’s harder to digest than insects, so they may not eat for days, just lie in the sun and try to digest…
So eat more insects and get meat occasionally! 🙂