Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,I got a baby ghost stripe corn 6 weeks ago at the daytona show that has not eaten anything until yesterday .I've tried live, f/t pinky mice,brained ,scented and unscented,washed pinky mice to no avail.Finally I caught a small lizard ,f/t and fed to the baby corn overnight and she ate it.My problem is trying to catch another lizard to feed her .Is there an easy way to catch lizards out in the backyard?Appreciate any info you can provide on an easier way to catch lizards until I can covert her to pinkies.Thanks.

Carlo

Hire a bunch of little kids to do it for you! Tell them 2 bucks a lizard they'll probably have 20 of them for you. When I was younger and we used to go catch lizards, we would rig up a noose type thing on a long thin hollow stick and make a little loop at the end of it then you can sneak up to the lizard and loop it around his neck (with some type of fishing line or thin string going through the stick) and pull it slightly to tighten it up. What also worked for us a few times is to get a 5 gal bucket and bury it up to it's rim and put a few crickets in it overnight, but depending on what type of lizards you're catching, may not work.... If you're in Florida and trying to catch green anoles, they'll climb out. You can probably buy anoles at a pet store for 5 bucks each.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
1.2 Nosy Be Panthers
2.2 Sambava Panthers
1.0 Tamatave Panther
1.0 Nosy Be X Unknown Cross
1.1 Veiled Chameleons
0.0.2 CBB Desert Tortoises
0.0.1 Sulcatta Tortoise

Lizards in my area....New Mexico.... like to get under the wood I have laying around... so I do the bucket thingy mentioned in the last post but I don't put anything in it (good idea though). I just put a peice of plywood over it leaving enough room (very little) for them to scurry under it. Wa La.

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MissHissss

First off.. feeding wil caught reptiles to captive bred reptiles is a melting pot for disaster. You don't know what diseases, contagions, parasites or toxins that wild caught animals has been exposed to. Not to mention, a Corn's natural diet is rodents...with the ocassional lizard caught..or the ocassional other snake eaten. But their main prey are rodents. You'd be much better off to try scenting the rodent food item...rub an anole tail on the body of the food item and then introduce that to the snake. Under no circumstances should you feed wild caught anything to your snake.

Then again.. thats your choice to make I suppose..but just think about this... You're hungry... haven't had any food in days.. possibly weeks.. and you finally come upon a rotting carcass of some land animal.. filled with buzzing flies etc... Your stomach tells you you're hungry and thats food in front of you despite the stench of decomposition. Your mind on the other hand rebels at the thought of trying to eat that... but in the end you must or die...and still possibly die or become ill from eating tainted food. Us, with our ability for rationalism, realize that the food we eat could potentially kill us anyway...Unfortunately, our reptiles rely on us to keep them happy and well.. and when you offer food to them they're going to take it because they don't realize it could make them ill. They can;t rationalize.. they can only act and react to changes in their environments.

Sorry, a bit long winded, but I see thesetypes of postsday in and day out... Feeding wild caught anythig is so not a good idea for snakes or lizards.
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Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)
3.1 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzard and 2 het Blizzard)
0.1 Savannah Monitor
13 rats
12 Gerbils
2 Dogs
3 cats
1 Albino Corey (fish)

I agree with Lucien that wild caught things shouldn't be fed. Actually... I have a glossy snake that has gone off feed so I caught a lizard thinking that since the snake was wild caught too and has already been exposed to these thingy's that it would be ok... but I chickened out and froze the lizard thinking that that would kill any bugs in it. I still can't bring myself to feed it to him though. I fear it will be too hard to get him back on mice if I do.

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MissHissssss

Freezing prey items is a trivial subject. Many parasites can survive the freezer. Some recommend freezing the feeder item for at least a month. If you're worried about it you should go to the library.
Don't worry about feeding a juvenile cornsnake a lizard. That is a normal menu item in the wild. If juvie corns had ample access to small rodents in the wild they wouldn't show the preference for lizards. Don't take everyone seriously on these forums. They think they know a lot more than they do. Wild snakes harbor parasites, and they live with them. It's very unlikely that you will experience a problem after feeding a live lizard. There are some small risks, but if you have a small collection there should be no problem. Shane

Thanks for your words TXherper. Actually, last week I went ahead and fed the lizard to my GLOSSY (not cornsnake) and it chowed down on it. This was nice to see after his 2 month fast. Then last night I rubbed some of another lizard on a pinky and he took it. Ok, so I may have to start over on getting him used to pinks again, but shoot... if he wants a lizard bad enough to starve over it... I'll give him a lizard. I'd rather chance his getting parasites from his natural prey than to see him starve to death because he doesn't want to eat what 'I' want him to eat. Anyway... the bucket method for catching these desert lizards worked for me. Don't forget to put the wood on top of it though. They love hiding under it and, plunk, in the bucket they go.

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MissHisssss

We have them sunning themselves in our back yard (in CA) all the time and just spray them with a cool spray from the hose and they freeze long enough to grab em.

Good luck with feeding your corn. As advised above, be sure to transition him/her back to mice as soon as possible - its better for them, and easier for you - buying mice is easier than catching lizards.

MAP

This is the scenting that works no matter what:
Get Russian or Chinese Hamsters/ rub the pinkie on their fur=DO NOT KILL the Hamster. You can pick up a trio to breed at Swaps or pet shop. If all else use Hamster Pinkie (frozen) to feed or scent. This works on Corns, Amazon Boas, Sinaloans, Greybands. One well kept secret to feeding stubborn feeders.