Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, it turns out Zane had not eaten those pinks after all; big piggie Zafina had polished them off. He is the one who had not eaten since August 4th of last year (went back and checked my records).

So anyway, today I noticed that one of my small alligator lizards had a kink in it's back and was not fairing so well, so I put Zane in his feeding jar with this lizard, and he started eating it right away. He had been turning his nose up at mice for weeks now. I quick got a couple of live small fuzzies and put those in the jar as soon as he swallowed the lizard, and he ate those, too. It's like he just needed his reset button pressed with a lizard meal. Not to worry about parasites, these lizards have previously been treated for parasites last summer.

Zane with full belly. He is an 08 but only weighs 70 grams. Not the most enthusiastic eater, but since discovering his hardwired preferences maybe I can now expect better results with him. Fortunately all my other pyros don't need lizard appetizers prior to the mouse main course.

Always something new to learn about these little dudes! LOL!
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Some folks may tell you that feeding a snake that has already eaten mice a lizard might make it harder to it back on mice again......

At least you know what to scent with though.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

I'm not worried about him being hard to get to eating mice, especially since he polished off two plump fuzzies right after eating the lizard. I think next feeding he will just go ahead and eat the mice. But I do have lizard scent as a backup.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

>>I'm not worried about him being hard to get to eating mice, especially since he polished off two plump fuzzies right after eating the lizard. I think next feeding he will just go ahead and eat the mice. But I do have lizard scent as a backup.

Cool...I had to kickstart some of my adults with live mice this year....after a couple of live mice feedings they readily started taking f/t........
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Try blending a lizard or several--yeah, in a blender--and freeze the grainy result. In the future you can break off a little piece to scent rodents. Over time, reduce the amount if scenting as possible.

>>Try blending a lizard or several--yeah, in a blender--and freeze the grainy result. In the future you can break off a little piece to scent rodents. Over time, reduce the amount if scenting as possible.

Bob already makes lizard tea and scents with it......

BTW...last time I got caught using the blender for lizards my wife GAVE me the blender.................LOL
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Zane was being so stubborn even lizard tea wasn't working, but the live lizard got his attention. Once he got into eating swallowing the fuzzies was easy. He is a funny little dude; more like a wild pyro or even a gray-banded king than any of my other pyros. He is so little in comparison with my other three 08s (ranging from 160 grams to 205+ grams) that I don't think I will ever use him for breeding, just a nice pet.

John, I just don't tell my mate what I have used a kitchen utensil for. Wash it good, who's to know. He knows to not look in the red plastic storage container in the freezer; no, that is not people food!

At least I don't store road kills in the freezer. I have a friend who is into taxidermy, and she puts her finds in her freezer! Nothing like finding a dead raccoon amongst the ice cream and meats. She does put the road kills in plastic bags, but still...yuck!
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

At least I don't store road kills in the freezer. I have a friend who is into taxidermy, and she puts her finds in her freezer! Nothing like finding a dead raccoon amongst the ice cream and meats. She does put the road kills in plastic bags, but still...yuck!

i had a lab partner for my human osteology course that used to do the same thing, but for re-articulating their skeletons.

you never would have guessed by looking at her that she was the sort who spent her spare time combing the roadways for roadkill. she was a petite and pale thing who used to dress like a porcelain doll, complete with rococo dresses and parasols.

people like her make it fun to live in the bay area.