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Bosc diets

1K views 33 replies 7 participants last post by  mraustin89 
#1 ·
Hey guys, i just took in a year old bosc that needed a home and admittedly i dont know much about them, i only took it in cause i didnt want someone that doesnt really care about reptiles to take it and mis treat it...

Anyways ive already read a few things about diets and stuff but i was just wondering what people who keep them go by? My friend told me what works for hers and im gonna stick to that but its always nice to know how other people get on.
 
#3 ·
I agree to read the link above- lots of good information.

For diet, I feed Toothless chicks, quail, gerbils, whole fish, roaches, grasshoppers, crawfish, earthworms, and crickets plus whatever else I can find that's whole prey.
I don't feed him a set amount every week, it varies week to week and sometimes I'll let him go a week with no food (mind you there are always free crickets and roaches in the enclosure, he just has to work for them).

Do you have any photos or names picked out?
 
#5 ·
The feeding is relatively simple, for now just make sure it is whole prey whatever it is. However, the more pressing issue with a bosc is the enclosure. What are you keeping it in and when will you be building its new enclosure?
 
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#6 ·
Thanks guys - he's in a 3ft viv at the min with a heat mat and a heat bulb, water bowl and some places to hide. Ill be getting some bits at the weekend to vamp it up a little and get it all correct, i took him on so someone else that only wanted him cause he was free took him.

He was being fed 2 boxes of locusts and a mouse a week and the occasional boiled egg, remember this was before i got him not what im feeding him.

He didnt have a name and im stumped on ideas for one :/ havent got any pics yet, i bathed him earlier and cleaned him up a little. Anyone got any pics of their set ups?
 
#8 ·
Holy crap thats huge! The bosc is a fair size too huh?! How old is he?

Would this be ok for him - a stated ceramic bulb down one end to heat the viv, a uv light on during the day, a few places to hide and enough soil for him to dig an burrow and a diet of locusts most days with a mouse or whole prey once a week?
 
#9 ·
3ft enclosure is not big enough even for a very young Sav, they grow very quickly when properly supported (6 inches to 24 inches in 12months, easily), they need plenty of exercise and enrichment in their enclosure as they are very intelligent creatures, 6 x 4 x 4 is the generally accepted minimum size

Halogen lamps are better than ceramic, they allow you to create the right temp hotspot (130f+) without burning off the humidity - humidity must be maintained properly, it should be 60% above ground, and much higher within burrows (~80-90%)

Crickets, Locusts, Dubias are all great foods for Savs, with additional mice and other whole foods he'll do great
 
#10 ·
It's actually not very big when you consider the minimum requirements are either 6 x 4 x 4 or 8 x 4 x 4 depending on which site you look at :).

My guy's almost 3 1/2 feet now, and 2 years old. I'm building him a new enclosure sometime this year, which will be the same size, but higher as he likes to climb.
Ceramic bulbs are crap for basking spots. You're better off getting some halogen flood lights and making a bank of two or three (for a full grown one).
How old is the sav? A 3 ft enclosure is really even too small for a baby. Its too hard to maintain the proper temp and humidity gradients in something that size.
You want between 1 1/2- 2 feet of soil/ sand substrate for burrowing, and a nice fully-sealed enclosure to keep him healthy (no screens or vents unless you live in the tropics).
 
#11 ·
Hes a year old but as i said i took him in the way he was, i didnt go out and buy him so for now the 3ft will have to make do, his previous owner didnt want him and didnt really care for him. I wanted to get him into a nice, caring home. I know they grow quickly but the viv he is in now looks massive in comparison to him. So should he have atleast one rodent a week or leave it as a treat? Every care sheet ive read says something different.
 
#13 ·
sounds like he is massivly underfed then, should be close to 2ft by now

50/50, inverts/whole prey

my Sav eats his way thru 50-60 large dubias or locusts, 30-40 marios or crickets, and 3-4 large mice or small fish a week, sometimes night crawler worms or the occasional egg - he was eating more than that, but was a bit tubby, so he's on a diet ;)

sort out a big enclosure for him now, you will be very surprised at the growth spurts!
 
#12 ·
Are you planning to build a proper enclosure in the near future? Having a year old sav in a 3 foot cage is pretty bad- I understand you are trying to give it a good home, but it is unhealthy for it to stay in an improper enclosure for any amount of time. If I misread your post I apologize, but it sounds like you plan to keep it in there for a while when you say 'it will have to make do'.

As long as your enclosure parameters are correct and the monitor is healthy, you can feed it rodents whenever you want, or not at all. Its a personal decision.
 
#14 ·
No sorry i meant until i can afford to sort him something bigger, like i said i wasnt planning on getting one so never had the time to get everything ready for him. Ill just have to get it as i go... Im not entirely sure i will be keeping him yet just wanted to get him out of the home he lived in before someone else took him to an even worse home that way i can sort him a decent, forever home if need be.

All of that in one week?! Thats crazy! Yeah he is a little on the small side, my friend has one who is alot younger and she said hers is close to my guys size.
 
#17 ·
How big is the bosc? If you post some photos we may be able to help suggest some easy modifications to the enclosure to help in the meantime until you can get something proper set up.
Since it was improperly taken care of for so long, its very important to get it properly set up asap as damage starts from day 1 and is not apparent until they are usually too sick to help.
 
#18 ·
This is the only one ive got of him from when i gave him a quick bath yesterday, he was covered in mess... I think the picture makes him look a little bigger than he actually is. Ive not got any of his set up yet.

 
#19 ·
He's very skinny :(. Poor guy.
Make sure your basking spot is 130-150 and pork him up a bit:2thumb:.

Also, bathing is generally unnecessary in monitors and causes quite a bit of stress. Your better off making sure his enclosure is humid enough and just leave him alone for a bit to recover. If he has a tub to lay in then he'll soak himself if need be.
 
#20 ·
I know its hard to really tell but he didnt seem to mind the bath, he seemed quite content, he'd just covered himself in mess so figured id clean him up a little.

I can tweak his set up properly at the weekend as i took him in late sunday night and i was back to work monday, i work mon-fri nights so this weekend ill get started on sorting the poor guy out... His previous owner told me the 2 boxes of locusts they brought a week lasted him the full week and he had a boiled egg and a mouse once a week so i knew straight away he was underfed.
 
#22 ·
On average its normally somewhere between 10-14 and they were from a shop that doesnt really do reptiles... Typical pet shop just trying to cash in on the rising popularity. Either way im gonna do my best to get him up to a nice, healthy size and give him the best home i can and if it looks like i might fail ill find him a forever home with someone that can love him and look after him properly :)
 
#24 ·
Do you only have the one? The only other lizards i have are a crestie and a leo

Oh and thank you :)
 
#28 ·
My Leo is never hidden, she's always out and about :) the bosc so far doesn't do much!
 
#29 ·
He will do when hes fully settled and all care is correct. My two are forever running round digging, bathing, climbing and chasing each other, only time they dont move is when basking or asleep, they are proper little dustbins food wise, mine eat a tub of locusts and crickets every other day, always have a full dish of morio worms in their viv, then they get a couple of chicks and 3 week old rats every other day, plus mussels, whitebait and eggs as a treat once a month, livefood costs me alot, but the rats I breed myself for them and my snakes,. Im glad yours now has a good home and is going to be getting the proper care these wonderful little monitors deserve.
 
#30 ·
Agreed that it'll come around eventually. They can take some time to settle in before they are comfortable in there environment and around people, and some never really seem to settle down.
I'm hoping Toothless will become more tractable when he gets a bit older. Right now he's in the 'I'll bite you if you come near me' mind-frame :lol2:. He's comfortable around people, but very defensive and doesn't normally like people coming too close.
 
#31 ·
Well he's not tried to bite yet, he's fine with me putting my hand in and stroking down his back and stuff and when i bathed him he seemed settled enough to let me hold him in a towel and pat him down :)
 
#33 ·
This was the case for mine, he didn't move....couldn't move he was just too weak from lack of everything he should of had from a hatching but the idiots obviously didn't.
Now he bright alert, smart,annoying, feisty and the spawn of the devil lol
Yours needed a correctly set up viv last year when he was born so the quicker you get it sorted the more he'll start acting like a monitor.
 
#34 ·
Well i chucked his locusts in earlier and turns out he can move... Quick! Nearly came charging out of the viv after a locust! Never seen anything like it, he got em all within matter of seconds!

Not saying this is the case, but a lot of the times when a bosc is stressed they will act calm. As long as his eyes were open and he was flicking is tongue and moving around a bit then that is good. If his eyes were closed when you were bathing or petting then he was most likely stressed.
His eyes were open and that long ass tongue was flicking! :)
 
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