can u feed adult crickets to a baby monitor hes about 6 inches I had to get large yesturday cuz they didnt have small or medium but they look huge for him I gave him one to try and he ate it someone told me its fine to feed him large and somebody else says u shouldnt kinda confused and I dont know wut kind of monitor he is I dont have a camera for a picture but hes dark blue or almost black with yellow and white spots with rings around his tail

1. Small or medium is better because they have less exoskeleton but large is ok once in a while (at least this is what I'm told).

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Welcome

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Actually, crickets get more healthy with an increase in size. It's not about 'sheer amount' of exoskeleton but more about exoskeleton:meat ratio. As I'm sure everyone is aware (or maybe not) mass increases as surface area (exoskeleton) by a ratio of 2:1 or so. Therefore the bigger the prey item, the bigger the profit, so to speak

Also, the exoskeletons aren't very pronounced in adult crickets. They are a bit tougher, but not enough to avoid the adult crickets.

Five week crickets will work fine.

I've heard that it is the legs that pose the problem. They're harder to digest than the soft portion.

I've had no problems feeding large cricks to my 20cm sav. It's fairly well know that monitors won't eat what they can't swallow. So if it eats them and dosen't regurge (it's not likly it will). then your ok feeding them to him. I would also recomend feeding a mix of mice and inverts.

Though the mass has changed face on the feeding of vertibrate prey. There is little evidence that this causes liver desease. A invertibrate diet can also cause this. It's many long term keepers opinon that over eating is the main cause of liver problems regardless of diet. As long as the monitor isn't over feed they can be maintained on a diet of mice. Also it's compleatly unrealilsic to think adults can be maintaned on a diet of avalible feeder insects at there size. Most adults will simply ignore small feeding items.

With all that said keep feeding insects as long as it will eat them and vary it with a mouse or two each month.

Based off you description and the likly avalible monitors I would say you have a Nile. Though there are others that fit your description you would most likly know what you where buying before putting out that kind of money.

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Who cares about the legs? It's not that big of a deal letting them eat the legs of crickets. If you were to be a bit sadistic, on the other hand, cricket legs come off easy at an autotomy plane...That'd solve your worries!

AAARRGG! A new born hatchling should not be fed adult crickets without pulling off at least the hind(Jumper) legs. It can cause impaction. Even now when my sub adult Sav Monitor poops in his water bowl, Guess what's floating in the water; UNdigested cricket legs and mouse fur. Legs of any insect are mainly exoskeleton and have little nutritional value and they don't break down very well. They're not like us mammals who have lots of meat on our legs.
Remember, Monitors are GORGE feeders. They will eat just about anything you put in front of them. They will continue feeding until they become engorged( I.E. the name ). It's up to you to make sure they have the proper diet. A baby needs baby food!
You can feed them Earthworms, Meal worms, Super worms, Roaches, Termites, Boiled eggs, Tuna, Chicken, Turkey, Rabbit, Rat, Mouse, and Squirrel.(+ More)
The Exoskeleton of insects is similar to the makeup of OUR fingernails. It's somewhere between bone and muscle.
Anyway, it's not very digestable.

I hope I haven't bored anyone!

thnx for the advise and yes it is a nile I found a picture and I didnt buy it. was givin to me for free the guy also gave me a savannah monitor the same size but he died a couple days ago

If this were true there would be captive herps losing their lives by the hundreds. Simply compare the size of a hatchling monitor to a Leopard gecko, they easily eat adult crickets. It's not the matter of if it's digested but it doesn't hurt feeding whole crickets. Mouse fur has also been said to case impaction. In my opinion it's a load. With the common misconception that savanna monitors are dry loving herps they are kept poorly hydrated and become impacted. A well hydrated monitor should have no problem passing any vert. or invert prey that fits in it's mouth.

pankration360: I'm sorry to hear about your sav. It's cool that you got the Nile for free your going to have alt of cost coming up housing and feeding it, but thats all the fun of it. I didn't mean any of what I said against you, just that the other monitors that fit your description are in the $500 - 1,000 range. So it's unlikely that you would spend that amount without knowing what your getting. Best of luck with the little one and watch those fingers, Niles never really do settle down.

__________________
"Tonights forcast..... Dark." Al Sleet, the hippy dippy weather man, George Carlin. You will be missed.
http://schlange-titus.de
http://dght.de

Would you feed your Human baby a slab of Steak?

Herps lose their lives to inexperienced keepers every day! How many sob stories do I have to hear?

Don't compare one species with another. An adult of one species does not equal a baby of another! One species has a completely different diet of another.That's like saying I should be happy eating what a Chimpanzee eats! Am I supposed to feed people Chimp food at my next party?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, Just think about it!

I may be new to THIS web site, But believe me, I've been around a long time.