Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Everywhere I read it says that pinkie mice can be fed to adult leo's as an occasional treat. Of my 30 leo's, I have only 3 females that will even touch pinkies, and now suddenly a month ago 1 of those 3 decides that they are her only favorite food??? So what does one do when their leo starts refusing anything but pinkies? I've been dipping them in supplement, but I don't know if that is enough. She won't touch any other food item (crickets, mealworms or waxworms)... she is starving herself for them. I really don't get it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Our AFT had a similar 'taste' for pinkies when we were trying to get her weight up (it worked).

I know it's hard to do, but we had to let Vidocq 'go with out food' for a week-- which means, really-- we would dust crickets and offer them to her, leave two in the tank with her if she snubed them. Eventually she began eating her crickets again.

Good luck!

Cat
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0.1.0 African Fat Tail
0.1.0 Leopard Gecko
1.1.0 Cats
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2.2.1 Platy's out the wazoo
2.2.0 Lemon Tetras
0.0.1 Pleco
1.1.0 South American Water Frog
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1.0.0 Husband

Thanks for replying to my post. As luck would have it, last night she decided to gobble up a handful of waxies. I was getting a little concerned.. she's laying eggs right now and I need her to eat. I think we're on the road to recovery! *laughs*

Speaking of AFT's - those guys really are just as bad! I have 2 females, 7yr old sisters. For the first 6 1/2 years they would only eat crickets, and now they will only eat waxworms. I don't know about all these critters.... so finicky!

Thanks again for the post!
Best Regards,
Hailey

Yep. They can get picky. Our AFT shed twice in a month due to her 'plumpness' (and doubling in length) and has been 'off feeding' for about two weeks...by 'off feeding', I mean not snarfing down 12 crickets in one sitting and only snapping up one or two in a 24 hour period. Our herpvet told us not to worry--that she's full from eating her skin and unless she starts loosing all the weight we had put on her in the first place.

By adding two drops of vit drops into her humid hide spray, she'll get something in her and at least be hydrated, whilst being 'prissy'. She really only drinks from the mist of her humid hide anyway and uses her water dish for soaking in...a little screwy, but that's our Vidi.

We have been trying to ween her into a varied diet of Crickets (Monday), Meal worms (Wens) and Silk worms (Friday)...but so far that has gone no where, as she had made 'freinds' with the silk worms, and stomped the meal worms to death.

Oh well.

My whole new take is, "She'll eat when she wants to and what she wants to."

Cheers,

Cat
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---------
0.1.0 African Fat Tail
0.1.0 Leopard Gecko
1.1.0 Cats
-------------------
2.2.1 Platy's out the wazoo
2.2.0 Lemon Tetras
0.0.1 Pleco
1.1.0 South American Water Frog
-----------------------
1.0.0 Husband

That's hilarious! *LOL* My girls made 'friends' with the pinkies. They are good about drinking from their dish, but as for eating.. they never had big appetites. Both of them are in the 50g weight range. They would eat about 5 large crickets a piece per week. That's it. Now they won't touch the crickets, but their appetites have exploded with the waxies. They'd eat them every night if I let them. One of my girls has a taste for mealworms... the other would stomp them to death also.

Your take is 100 accurate!!! AFT's are one of a kind in the gecko world!

Good talking with you!

Regards,
Hailey