The savannah monitor lizard, Varanus exanthematicus, is a very popular pet. Every year more than 30,000 savannah monitors enter the pet trade. But although they have been kept as pets for at least 150 years nobody has ever figured out how to keep them well enough to breed them consistently, and the lizards live comparatively short lives in captivity.

Despite what you will read elsewhere on the internet, no successful husbandry methods have ever been demonstrated for savannah monitors. There are monitor lizards that reproduce very well in captivity, and successful husbandry methods have been demonstrated for those species, but the savannah monitor is not one of them. The animal does very poorly in captivity, and the majority of owners do not have their animals after one year. Most savannah monitors that survive their first year become mobidly obese and virtually all are dead within five years. None seem to survive for ten. Female savannah monitors probably die even earlier than males in captivity, and almost never produce eggs. At best females cycle a few times and then stop and either die or never cycle again. Captive bred savannah monitors are extremely rare, and second generation offspring almost unheard of. All the savannah monitors in the trade are sourced from the wild, either by catching gravid females, digging up eggs or catching the baby lizards shortly after they have emerged from their nests.

Savannah monitors are exported from Ghana, Togo and Benin. A declared average of almost 32,000 lizards are exported each year for pet trade (2010-2015 data from CITES trade database), totaling over quarter of a million animals since 2010. Almost all pet trade demand is for hatchling lizards, which emerge between February and April in the coastal grasslands where they are harvested.

We don’t understand why savannah monitors fail to reproduce in captivity, but their failure to reproduce indicates that they are not being kept properly. Savannah monitor lizards are very tough animals that often withstand years of abuse. You might hear the opinion that because a few individuals survive for over five years, captive husbandry for the species is satisfactory. But the truth is that because all animals die without leaving offspring, the trade currently caters for reptile keepers who want a disposable pet for entertainment, rather than animals they can care for and progagate.

This website sets out to counter misinformation about savannah monitor lizards and offer practical suggestions to animal rescuers for improving husbandry, as well as an overview of what we know about the natural history and status of the lizard in the wild. Myths about the “correct care” of savannah monitors in captivity are debunked and dictums prevalent in books, social media and online care sheets are examined critically. The basic parameters for keeping savannah monitor lizards in captivity are provided (where they are known), together with case studies of individuals, warnings about poor sources of advice and recommendations for further research.