Overview
Of all the lizards I’ve had the pleasure of keeping and handling, the Savannah monitor – Varanus exanthematicus, is one of my favorites. They’re intelligent, perfectly sized and they look amazing!
To be fair, these guys are a little tougher to keep than your beginner lizards like leopard geckos and bearded dragons. Besides requiring a larger enclosure than either of those two, they have additional needs that must be met.
With this guide however, you’ll be able to successfully keep and maintain a healthy, happy pet.
Savannah Monitor Care Sheet
| Care level | Intermediate to advanced |
| Temperament | Calm and inquisitive. Wary of strangers |
| Native to: | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Average size | 2′-4′ |
| Cage requirements | 7′ x 3′ x 4′ |
| Temperature | 90-100 degrees F |
| Humidity | 40%-70% dependent on several factors |
| Preferred food | Mice and insects |
| Feeding frequency | Juveniles daily, adults 1-2 times per week |
| Lifespan | 5-10 years |
Quick Fact!
The Savannah monitor is often mistaken for the white throat monitor, Varanus albigularis. While the Savannah monitor typically grows 2-4 feet, the white throat monitor averages closer to 5-6 feet in length.
Additionally, there are numerous morphological differences such as the fact that the white throat monitor has a shorter and blunter snout, and often has much brighter and more vivid colors than the Savannah.
Savannah Monitor Size
All reptiles continue growing throughout their entire life, though their growth rate slows down considerably once they become adults.
How big do Savannah monitors get? Savannah monitors are only a few inches long as hatchlings. They are viewed as medium sized lizards which will eventually grow 2-4 feet in length. For the most part, they are considered to be full grown once they reach sexual maturity. This can take place in as little as two years, though it is more common for them to take 3-4 years before reaching full adulthood.
Females tend to be smaller than males, and usually grow to around 2 or 2 ½ feet long. It’s rare for them to grow much longer, although there have been some reported instances of them reaching close to 4 feet.
Savannah Monitor Housing Needs
Savannah monitors are notorious escape artists. You not only have to provide them with housing that is large enough to meet their needs, but also tall enough and secure enough to prevent escape.
What size enclosure do Savannah monitors need? Baby Savannah monitors can be started out in an enclosure that measures 36″x24″x20″. That is the equivalent of a 40-50 gallon aquarium. Adults will need an enclosure at least 7’x3’x4′. Savannah monitors need an enclosure at least twice as long as their body including tail, and as wide as their total length.
Make sure it is high enough to allow them to climb branches while being unable to reach the top if you have a lidded set up.
Some people decide to start with a full sized adult home for their lizard from the beginning, while others prefer to step up into larger enclosures over time.
I suggest starting out with a full sized Savannah monitor enclosure.
It saves money in the long run, plus it saves me the hassle of procrastinating in the future, which I am sure to do. We always mean to do it “some day”, but that day often times doesn’t happen until it’s gone on too long.
Unlike some lizards that prefer a more compact space to feel secure (leopard geckos for example), Savannahs will thrive in a larger area.
In the end, the larger the enclosure you can provide, the better off your pet will be.
Savannah Monitor Cage Setup
As I said, Savannah monitors like to climb so you will want to provide them with sturdy branches to do so.
You’ll need vertical branches for them to climb, and horizontal branches to perch on. Both should be at least as wide as their body.
If you’re using an enclosure with a screen top, be sure to leave enough room between the highest branch and the top of the cage to prevent them from escaping. It doesn’t take much for a lizard to pry open a screen top if they can grab it.
You also want to provide hide boxes large enough for your monitor to fit into.
Not only does this give them a secure place to feel safe, but it can also hold more moisture. These lizards live in arid areas, but still need a place of higher humidity to aid in shedding and thermoregulation.
Hide boxes also provide security. You often hear about how Savannah monitors love to dig burrows. The truth is, in the wild they rarely do (unless it is a gravid female).
Savannah monitors prefer to use abandoned burrows, termite mounds or hollowed trees in the wild. Beyond providing shade and cooler air, these places offer security. A place to rest and feel safe when they are not hunting for food.
I prefer to use two hide boxes.
One is kept on the cool side of the cage, and one is kept between the middle and the warm side.
Another good tip is to keep the back of the enclosure opaque, and face the opening to the hide boxes towards the opaque side so they can’t see all of the activity in the room.
Savannah Monitor Substrate
Most websites will tell you to use at least 24 inches of substrate in order to allow your monitor to dig deep and complex burrows.
The truth is, if you are providing the proper temperature, humidity, lighting, AND good hiding places that allow your lizard to thermoregulate while feeling secure, then substrate becomes less of an issue.
Only gravid females truly need a place to dig in order to lay their eggs.
In the wild, these lizards rarely dig deep burrows. As I said in the last section, they prefer to use other natural spaces as homes.
With that being said, your substrate choice can be as simple or as elaborate as you would like.
Some good Savannah monitor substrate options would include:
- Ground walnut shell bedding – It has no odor control, but is easily cleaned by scooping it like cat litter.
- Sand – If you use sand, make sure it is either play sand, or sand specifically designed for reptiles in order to reduce the risk of health issues caused by swallowing it.
- Coconut bark
- Reptile carpet
- Any wood chips or shavings that are safe for reptiles.
The key component to good Savannah monitor substrate is to keep it clean.
Spot clean the enclosure regularly, and completely change the bedding every 2-3 weeks.
Savannah Monitor Lighting Needs
Living so close to the equator means these lizards receive pretty close to twelve hours of daylight all year. The sun rises close to 5:30AM and sets around 5:30PM.
Of course you don’t have to follow those exact times, but you should stick to around 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark.
The goal is always to provide an environment that is as close to their natural one as possible.
I like to keep my reptile lights set on a timer. I have the lights programmed to come on at 8:00 in the morning, and set to shut off at 8:00 at night.
You also want to make sure to include UVB lighting for your Savannah monitor.
I recommend mercury bulbs with a 4-5% irradiance. Basically what that means is 4-5% of the total radiation produced by the bulb is in the form of UVB rays.
These lights should be kept 12”-18” from your monitor. The best way to accomplish this is to point them at their basking area. Keep in mind, UVB will not penetrate glass or plastic so will need to shine directly.
Savannah Monitor Temperature Requirements
As I said earlier, Savannah monitors live in sub-Saharan Africa. They range just north of the equator, which means they like it warm.
What you’re looking for here is a gradient. You want one side of the enclosure to be hot and the other side cool.
What temperature should Savannah monitors be kept at? Savannah monitors require a temperature range of 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Night time temperatures can be allowed to drop to between 75 and 85 degrees. Savannah monitors also need a basking area which reaches around 120 degrees.
Savannah monitors are only active inside of that temperature range.
Any hotter than 100 and they are seeking shelter. Anything less than 90 and they are either seeking warmth, or they become inactive.
You do however, want areas that are a little bit out of this range in order for your lizard to thermoregulate to a temperature they are most comfortable at. This is where hide boxes and a basking area come into play.
The basking area should be allowed to reach as high as 120 degrees. That is the surface temperature of the basking spot, not the overall air temperature. As for the hide boxes, I already recommended where they should be placed for the most benefit.
Hitting 100 degrees F on the hot side of the cage should be fairly simple since the basking area will be on that side. Maintaining 90 degrees F throughout the rest of the enclosure can be a bit more challenging.
Any area not kept at 90 or above (besides the inside of the hide boxes) is wasted space that won’t be used by your monitor.
Here are some ways you can maintain the perfect temperatures throughout your enclosure.
- Use an enclosure that is closed at the top. An aquarium with a screen lid lets all the heat out.
- Add a secondary heat source about a third of the way from the end of the cool side. I suggest steering away from heat rocks and heating pads. Either use a second heat light with a little less power than the one used for basking, or use a ceramic heater.
- Use a small computer fan on the basking side of the cage to blow hot air towards the cooler side of the cage.
Night time temperatures can be allowed to drop to between 75 and 80 degrees F. This is still warmer than most people keep their homes at night, so you may need to keep a ceramic heater running throughout the night.
Savannah Monitor Humidity Needs
Proper humidity levels are widely debated among herpetologists.
In the wild, Savannah monitors go through a wet season and a dry season.
Obviously, during the wet season water is plentiful. There are puddles, ponds, rivers, and these monitors have been observed soaking, swimming and frequently visiting these water sources.
The dry season can mean absolutely no water for at least two months, and they usually stop feeding during this time.
Here are my recommended humidity ranges for Savannah monitors.
- Adults should be kept around 40-50% humidity. This is the average humidity found in a home, but you should still monitor it to be safe.
- Juveniles could use a slightly higher level at 50-70%. Misting the cage once per day should be enough to achieve this.
- Always mist the substrate of at least one of the hide boxes once per day for Savannah monitors of any age. This way your monitor can choose to go to a wetter place if it needs to.
- Always provide a clean water bowl large enough for your lizard to soak in.
Some owners prefer to keep a higher humidity level out of fear of their lizards dehydrating.
Savannah monitors are able to turn their fat reserves into water. For a healthy adult monitor, this is no problem. In fact it is something their bodies are designed to do in order to maintain a healthy, not obese weight.
Juveniles face a slightly bigger obstacle, which is why I suggest a higher level for them.
They are younger and smaller which means they are less resilient and more susceptible to all kinds of things that could hurt them such as dehydration, sickness, starvation etc,,,
Juvenile Savannah monitors also tend to lose more water as a ratio of body weight than their adult counterparts, and they have less stored fat to call upon.
If you are providing your monitor with a healthy diet, proper temperatures and clean water, the humidity levels I recommend should be fine.
Water For Your Savannah Monitor
Clean water should be provided daily. I personally prefer to keep two water bowls. I place a fresh one in the cage each morning, and then clean the old one later that evening.
The water bowl you use should be large enough for your lizard to soak in. You may find that they use it for soaking when they are about to shed.
I like to keep my water bowl on the cool side of the enclosure.
Savannah Monitor Feeding And Diet
This is probably the most important section of the entire article!
Savannah monitors do not always fare well in captivity.
Herpetologists speculate as to the reasons, but no one knows exactly why. One thing we do know however, is that most juvenile Savannah’s that die are found to be underfed while most adults are found to be obese.
These symptoms aren’t always the direct cause of death, but the correlation is undeniable.
In the wild, Savannah monitors only eat around six months out of the year.
During this time they maintain a body fat mass around 1-3% of their total weight. A month or two prior to the dry season they begin bulking up, and raise their body fat percentage to a range of 3-5%.
In captivity, these lizards don’t have the opportunity to experience this. Instead, they are fed a nutritious diet year round.
In addition, most monitors don’t have to work very hard for their food. Heck, there are even prepared foods available on the market that you simply place in a dish like feeding a dog!
The result is that many adult Savannah monitors in captivity end up having a fat index that exceeds 15-20%! That’s the equivalent of a 600-800 pound adult!
To prevent this, you need to closely monitor your lizard’s length and weight.
Baby monitors can be fed daily while they are rapidly growing, which typically lasts until they are around 9 months old.
Here are the foods recommended for a Savannah monitor.
- Gut loaded crickets
- Grasshoppers
- Dubia roaches
- Super worms
- Meal worms
- Horned worms
As soon as you notice the growth rate slowing down, you should immediately reduce feeding. Savannah’s can go from healthy hatchlings and juveniles to obese sub-adults in as little as 2-3 months.
You can keep the diet the same, but reduce feeding to every other day.
The key is to monitor both length and weight.
As your monitor quits growing longer, it should also quit growing heavier.
A good rule of thumb is to measure your lizard from the tip of the snout to the beginning of its vent. The monitor should weigh approximately 3 grams for every 1 millimeter of length. It doesn’t need to be exact, but should be at least moderately close.
Adult Savannah monitors can be fed one to two times per week, maintaining the same diet as juveniles.
Other sites may advise eggs, mice, or commercially prepared foods, but in the wild these guys are mostly insectivores their entire lives. They’ve been known to occasionally eat reptile eggs and such, but largely pass on readily available bird eggs and rodents.
Savannah monitor supplements
Insects should be dusted with calcium and vitamin D3 supplements at least every other feeding throughout the life of your monitor’s life.
Savannah Monitor Exercise
I don’t always include an exercise section in my care guides, but I feel it is important for Savannah monitors.
In the wild, these guys might travel hundreds of yards (or meters) per day. They also have to work hard for a lot of their food.
In captivity they may only move 20 feet per day, and their food is generally served in a dish.
Obesity is of major concern for Savannah monitors.
They have fat reserves stored in organs known as fat bodies.
These organs are located on their sides and aren’t always visible on the outside, especially to the untrained eye.
The fat stored in these organs mostly provide the water and some of the nutrients the Savannah monitor requires during the dry season when it doesn’t eat and can not find water.
In captivity, they are usually unable to deplete the fat stored in these organs.
As a result, the fat continues to accumulate and bleeds over into other organs causing irreparable damage and shortening the lizards life.
It’s a cruel irony, that this efficient system is part of the reason these lizards are so popular in the pet industry despite the fact that most only live a few years.
Their bodies are equipped to go long periods of time without food or water.
When wild caught specimens are shipped overseas and sold at reptile shows or pet stores, they still look and act healthy, and their poor health goes unnoticed for an extended period of time.
Getting to my point in this section, exercise is crucial. Especially for adults!
Here are some tips to help you achieve this.
- Make your Savannah monitor work for its food.
Insects should be fed live to your monitor, and it should move around the enclosure to catch them. In the wild, they hunt for their food. They might dig the equivalent of several times their body weight in dirt to uncover a cricket burrow that gives them a tenth of their body weight in food.
- Move the basking spot to the top of the enclosure.
Having a taller enclosure of six to eight feet will allow you to have a basking spot that is several feet off the ground. Your monitor will then have to climb up and down in order to thermoregulate, and stay comfortable.
- Take your monitor on daily walks
As I said, these guys walk thousands of feet per day in the wild. There are several lizard leashes available on the market, allowing you to safely take your lizard on a walk.
Although it should be obvious, I should probably point out that you need to do this in a safe manner.
Some people are freaked out by reptiles. Respect this, and don’t force them to endure your lizard.
Yes you have rights too, but let’s face the truth: People freaking out is a good way to have new local ordinances passed that will make life for you and your lizard difficult.
You should also be wary of other pets or animals seeing your lizard as prey and attacking it.
- Take your Savannah monitor for a swim
Despite having to endure an extended dry season, Savannah monitors enjoy water and are usually adept swimmers. Swimming is a great exercise! Of course this should be supervised swimming. Never leave your lizard unattended in water deeper than its head.
Savannah Monitor Temperament And Handling
One of the appealing aspects of Savannah monitors is their disposition. It can take a little work to get them that way though.
This is the temperament you can expect from a Savannah monitor. Baby and juvenile Savannah monitors can be a little nippy. These guys are often times prey for other animals in the wild, and tend to be a bit more defensive. Adult Savannah monitors are much more relaxed and docile, especially if you handle them often, and in the proper way.
Frequent, gentle handling will help your monitor calm down and learn to trust you.
Here are some tips to help your Savannah monitor accept handling.
- Pick your Savannah up from the belly rather than from the back. Grabbing a lizard from above can trigger a defensive response since that is how they are most often attacked.
- Hand feed your monitor some insects with tongs. You don’t want food to be the ONLY thing your pet associates you with, but having those bonding moments during some feeding times shows them you aren’t dangerous.
- Get your monitor out when you see that it is active, not when it is resting. Would you like to be woken up from a nap? I know I’m grumpy when that happens!
- Handle your pet every day, but keep the sessions short. Your goal in the beginning is to get your monitor into a relaxed state where it doesn’t feel threatened by you. Once it reaches that state, enjoy some time and then out it away. End the session on a happy note.
Savannah monitors are pretty laid back and docile for the most part. Their calm demeanor is one of the things that make many people want to have one as a pet.
Like most animals however, they can be inherently wary of humans until they have become accustomed to them.
Savannah Monitor Health Issues
Have I mentioned that obesity is a common problem for captive Savannah monitors?
Poor husbandry is the number one cause of death for nearly ALL reptiles kept in captivity.
The problem is, these guys are built to withstand harsh conditions. This means bad practices can go on for months or even years with no sign that you are harming the animal.
When you suddenly see that the reptile is sick, or worse, you wake up in the morning and it has died, it is rarely due to something that just suddenly went wrong. It is most often an extended period of time spent living in substandard conditions.
Always pay close attention to your temperature and humidity gauges. Monitor your monitor (you like that?) daily for changes in behavior. Weigh and measure them weekly, and keep detailed dated records of the results. This will allow you to see long term trends.
Summary
Hopefully you now see why Savannah monitors are considered an advanced lizard for herpers to keep.
It isn’t hard to keep them alive for a couple of years since they are built for harsh conditions. Allowing them to live a full life and thrive however, takes a lot of dedication.
Even then, these guys only have a 5-10 year life expectancy in captivity.
That’s part of the joy of herpetology though. Studying a reptile, trying to learn what helps them thrive in nature, and improving existing practices to create the ideal environment for them.
The average age of a bearded dragon 20 years ago was around 6-10 years. Now that life expectancy has increased to 10-12 years through improved husbandry practices.
I understand that the Savannah monitor isn’t the right pet for everyone though. If this guide seems a little daunting, check out this article I wrote about choosing your first pet lizard.