Ackie Monitor Diet: What to Feed and How Often

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The ackie monitor diet centers on live insects. Crickets, dubia roaches, black soldier fly larvae, and silkworms make up the daily staple. Keepers dust each feeding with calcium and rotate insect species for variety.

Varanus acanthurus is an opportunistic insectivore in the wild. Captive keepers copy that pattern with feeder insects as the base. Whole prey or egg serve only as an occasional extra.

Getting the schedule and portions right matters more for this species than for most monitors. Ackies gain weight fast on a diet that looks generous. It can deliver too many calories for their small frame.

What Ackie Monitors Eat

In the wild, ridgetail monitors hunt insects and small lizards across the arid, rocky country of northwestern Australia. A study of 127 wild specimens by Dennis King, published in the varanid journal Biawak, found grasshoppers in 50 percent of stomachs, making up 44 percent of all food items. Beetles were in 24 percent of stomachs and cockroaches in 13 percent.

Lizards, mostly small skinks, geckos and dragons, turned up in 14.5 percent of stomachs but made up only 7 percent of items. The same study found no link between the size of the monitor and the size of its prey. Bigger ackies simply ate more items, not larger ones, and stomachs held food in every month of the year.

That pattern is the template for captivity: many small to medium insects, often, with the occasional small vertebrate. Captive ackies do best on a similar rotation of feeder species. A single insect at every meal is not enough variety.

A useful stocking list includes crickets, dubia roaches, discoid roaches, black soldier fly larvae, silkworms, and hornworms. Mealworms and superworms can be offered too, but only as a minor part of the rotation. Their tougher exoskeleton digests less easily, and their calcium content runs lower relative to phosphorus.

Ordering feeders from more than one supplier helps too, since insect quality and gut loading status vary between farms. Keepers who breed dubia roaches at home get an extra benefit: a steady supply of soft bodied insects at every life stage, from tiny nymphs for hatchlings to full grown adults for a large adult ackie.

Feeder Insect Variety and Nutrition

Feeder insects vary widely in calcium to phosphorus ratio. That ratio drives how much supplementation a meal needs. Most insects offered to reptiles have an inadequate ratio on their own, according to the Merck Veterinary Manual.

Mealworms come in around 0.11 and superworms around 0.43. Both fall far below the target. The manual lists the ideal ratio for reptiles as at least 1:1, with 2:1 preferred.

Dubia roaches and black soldier fly larvae start closer to that target than mealworms do. That is one reason keepers lean on roaches and calciworms as the everyday staple. Mealworms then stay an occasional item.

Gut Loading and Supplements

Gut loading means feeding insects a calcium rich diet before they become food. That calcium passes on to the lizard at the next meal. The Merck Veterinary Manual recommends a mineral supplement with at least 8 to 10 percent calcium.

Give that supplement to feeder insects roughly 72 hours before they are offered. This step can raise an insect’s calcium content from about 0.01 percent to roughly 0.5 percent on a dry matter basis. Gut loading alone is not enough, though.

Dust every feeder insect with a calcium powder immediately before offering it, the timing the Merck Veterinary Manual specifies, since the powder falls off insects left to run around. Most keepers use a plain calcium powder without D3 at most meals. They switch to calcium with D3 once or twice a week for animals without strong UVB exposure.

The Merck manual lists a target vitamin D3 range of 500 to 1,000 IU per kilogram of diet. That figure applies to carnivorous and omnivorous reptiles. UVB light still remains the more reliable route to active vitamin D.

A reptile specific multivitamin powder once every one to two weeks rounds out the routine. The once or twice weekly D3 and multivitamin intervals are the common keeper standard rather than a published dose for this species. A full gut loading walkthrough covers ratios and timing in more detail.

Whole Prey and Eggs

Adult ackie monitors accept whole prey such as pinky or fuzzy mice. Many keepers offer one every one to two weeks. It stays an occasional item, not a staple.

Whole prey delivers a different nutrient profile than insects, including intact bone for calcium. It is also calorie dense. That makes it easy to overfeed on a lizard this small.

Hard boiled or scrambled egg works well as an occasional protein source. Small quail eggs work too. Offer either once or twice a month at most.

Neither whole prey nor egg should make up the bulk of the diet. Insects remain the base. Both extras add variety and occasional enrichment, not a replacement for calcium dusted feeder insects.

Ackie Monitor Feeding Schedule by Age

How often to feed an ackie monitor changes sharply from hatchling to adult. The schedule below is the common keeper standard for the species, framed by the Merck Veterinary Manual’s general lizard guidance. Underfeeding a growing juvenile slows growth and bone development.

Overfeeding an adult is the more common mistake. It is also the one that shortens lifespan. Obesity and fatty liver disease are the usual results.

This schedule lines up with the Merck Veterinary Manual’s general lizard guidance. It lists daily feeding for juveniles and small species. Most other lizards get fed daily or every other day.

Larger, established carnivorous species eat once or twice weekly. Ackies mature fast and eat readily. Many keepers cut adult ackies back to the low end of that range, since the species overeats easily in captivity.

Portion Size and Body Condition

Rather than counting insects by number, judge portion size by activity and body condition. A hungry, healthy ackie chases and eats with visible interest. One that ignores food is very likely overweight, not simply well fed.

Check the base of the tail and the area behind the front legs. A thin ackie shows visible hip bones and a narrow tail base. A lean, healthy one has smooth, even contours.

An overweight ackie develops fat pads at the tail base. Its belly stays rounded even between meals. A digital gram scale used for a weekly weigh in gives an objective trend line, catching slow weight gain early.

Track weight over months, not single sessions, since a healthy ackie fluctuates a little around a stable baseline. A steady upward trend across several weeks is the signal to cut back, not a single higher reading after a big meal.

Feeding tongs help control portion size directly. They let a keeper offer insects one at a time and stop once interest drops off. That beats dropping a full cup of crickets into the enclosure at once.

A pair of long feeding tongs also keeps fingers clear of a food driven strike.

Foods to Avoid

• Wild caught insects, which can carry pesticide residue or parasites.
• Fireflies and lightning bugs, which are toxic to reptiles.
• Fruit, vegetables, or leafy greens as a diet component. Ackies are carnivorous insectivores, not omnivores.
• Adult mice or rats for animals under two years old. The calorie load is too high for a still growing lizard.
• Insects larger than the space between the eyes, which raise the risk of regurgitation or impaction.

Related Ackie Monitor Guides

Diet works alongside temperature, humidity, and enclosure size to keep an ackie monitor healthy. Read the full ackie monitor care guide together with this page.

A basking surface hot enough for digestion matters as much as the food itself, and the enclosure setup guide covers the gradient.

The ackie monitor size guide explains how growth rate connects to the schedule above.

The main ackie monitor overview is a good starting point for new keepers.

For feeding principles across the genus, including the whole prey heavy diets of larger species, see the monitor lizard diet guide.

General background on feeder choices lives at feeder insects explained.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do ackie monitors eat as their main food?

In the wild, grasshoppers, beetles and cockroaches dominate, with small lizards in about one stomach in seven. Captive ackie monitors eat mainly feeder insects such as dubia roaches, crickets, and black soldier fly larvae, dusted with calcium powder. Whole prey and occasional egg should stay a minor part of the diet.

How often should you feed an ackie monitor?

Hatchlings and juveniles eat daily or every other day. Adults do best on two to three feedings a week. This is lighter than the daily feeding many new keepers expect.

Can ackie monitors eat mice?

Adult ackie monitors can eat an occasional pinky or fuzzy mouse. Offer one roughly every one to two weeks at most. Mice should not be a daily or weekly staple.

Do ackie monitors need calcium supplements?

Yes. Feeder insects have naturally poor calcium to phosphorus ratios. Calcium powder at most feedings and a vitamin D3 formula once or twice weekly are standard practice, alongside gut loading.

Why is my ackie monitor gaining too much weight?

Overfeeding is the most common cause. This often means adult sized portions fed daily instead of two to three times a week. Check body condition at the tail base and reduce portions if fat pads appear.

What foods are toxic or unsafe for ackie monitors?

Fireflies are toxic and should never be fed to any monitor lizard. Wild caught insects carry pesticide and parasite risks. Fruit or vegetables offer little value to a carnivorous insectivore.