Your savannah monitor can't tell you the basking surface has cooled or that a fatty diet is quietly harming its liver. baskr watches the pattern across your logs, temperature, humidity, weight and feeding, and shows you what needs attention before it becomes a problem.
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Savannah Monitor
Weight climbing
Steady gain with fat pads showing. Lean out the diet, obesity is the top killer of pet savannahs.
Basking surface
50–55°C · 122–130°F
Cool end
24–26°C · 75–79°F
Humidity
~50% (humid burrow)
Ideal ranges for Varanus exanthematicus, the same targets baskr scores your logs against.
Basking and warm figures are surface temperatures at the spot; cool and ambient are air. Measure with a probe or infrared thermometer at the animal's height.
Diurnal
Active by day
Savannas of sub-Saharan Africa
Wild climate. Hot, dry African savanna with a marked wet season; blazing basking heat above, cool humid burrows below.
Why the care is what it is. This is why baskr targets a very hot 50 to 55°C basking surface, deep substrate for a humid burrow, strong UVB and an insect-led diet to avoid obesity.
Logging is the input. The product is spotting when a single off reading becomes a pattern worth acting on.
A very hot surface of 50–55°C (122–130°F)
Too cool and this arid basker can't digest; monitors need real, localised heat.
A cool end of 24–26°C with a humid burrow retreat
No cool, humid retreat and the animal can't regulate or shed well.
Lean and muscular, not fat-padded
Steady weight gain and fat pads are a serious warning, obesity and fatty liver kill savannahs young.
Mostly insects and invertebrates, gut-loaded; rodents rare
A rodent-heavy, fatty diet is the classic route to obesity and liver disease.
Deep substrate holding a burrow, humid below and drier on top
Shallow or bone-dry substrate blocks burrowing and causes poor sheds.
Strong UVB, and daily digging and foraging
A normally active monitor gone still and hidden for days is worth investigating.
Safe to include
Avoid
Savannahs dig and bulldoze, so most keepers use a hardscape of deep substrate, rock and cork rather than a planted display.
Staples
Occasional / treats
Never feed
Supplements. Dust feeders with calcium and use a reptile multivitamin regularly, especially for juveniles.
Good to know. Mainly an insectivore, despite the myth that monitors need lots of rodents. Keep it insect-led and measured, over-feeding is the number-one killer of pet savannahs.
The right kind of kit, pick brands you trust.
UVB lighting
A high-output 10–12% T5 HO tube (Ferguson zone 3) over the basking area, replaced every 12 months.
Basking heat
A cluster of basking bulbs over stacked stone to hit a 50–55°C surface, on a dimming thermostat.
Thermostat
A dimming or pulse thermostat to hold the hot basking zone safely.
IR/probe thermometer + hygrometer
A surface thermometer for the basking rock, plus ambient and burrow humidity.
Deep substrate
45–60 cm of a soil and sand mix that packs and holds a burrow, damp underneath.
Large secure enclosure
A robust 6×3 ft-plus enclosure with a secure lid; savannahs are strong and dig hard.
Grounded in your own logs and the ideal ranges above, plain language, never a diagnosis.
Weight has climbed steadily and fat pads are showing. Cut back on rich, fatty feeds and shift to leaner insects, obesity and fatty liver kill savannahs young.
Basking surface averaged 44°C this week, cool for a savannah (target 50–55°C). Check the basking bulbs and stack.
Diet has been rodent-heavy this week. Switch to an insect-led diet, savannahs are mainly insectivores.
Enter your own readings for an instant care score, the same check baskr runs for you every day.
Enter a reading or two above to see Savannah Monitor's care score.
A quick guide, not a diagnosis. Ideal ranges vary with age, morph and setup, and individual animals differ, so confirm anything critical with an experienced keeper or a reptile vet.
Mainly insects and invertebrates, not the rodent-heavy diet they're often wrongly fed. Keep it insect-led (dubia, locusts, crickets, snails) with only occasional whole prey. Over-feeding and fatty diets cause the obesity and liver disease that kill pet savannahs young.
Yes, a lot of it: 45–60 cm (18–24 in) so they can dig and burrow. Deep substrate also holds the humid burrow microclimate they retreat to. Shallow substrate is a common, serious husbandry failure.
No. They're cheap to buy but become large, powerful lizards with a very hot basking need, deep-substrate digging, and a real obesity risk. They're an advanced, demanding animal.
Very hot: a localised basking surface of about 50–55°C (122–130°F), paired with a proper cool end around 24–26°C and a humid burrow, so it can bask hard then retreat.
Log your savannah monitor's care in seconds and baskr does the watching. Free for your first 3 animals.
Start freeLast reviewed August 2026. General husbandry guidance, not veterinary advice, and ranges vary with age, morph, subspecies and setup. Confirm anything critical with an experienced keeper or an exotics vet.