Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there, I have stoppped feeding my leo's crickets due to parasite problems. I have been feeding stricly mealworms - not this is not a good diet to only feed mealworms. I am trying to incorporate pinky mice into their diets. Last night I thawed a few pinkmice out to try and feed them. Nobody wanted anything to do with the mice. I really don't want to use live, but might have to. Any suggestions?
Thanks

erm well ive alwysheard that feedign mealies as astaple diet is fine. with pinkies as you probs knwo are fatteing so dont feed too many. try moveing the pinkins in your hands and creating movement then they should go if hte pinkines just sit there then the leos will just ignor them

I did try and wiggle the pinkys, one of them did lick the pinky, but that was all. Maybe if I don't feed them for a few days, they will get hungry enough to try the pinks.

With mine I just hold the pinky in front of them and they take it from my hand. Mine absolutely loooooove pinkies.

Thanks,
Andrew

Why are you feeding pinkies? Are you trying to fatten them up for breeding or just to add variety? I don't use pinkies with my leos. Try waxworms, silkworms, roaches (all sorts of those!), or superworms to add variety. Some breeders do feed pinkies to put weight on their breeders, some of them might chime in here later.
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www.hullabalooherps.com

To make a long story short.
I have been having parasite problems. I don't know where it started, but I ended up separating all of my leo's. But I was still feeding crickets. Last week I got fecal samples from all of my leos and brought them to the vet. All came back positive for pinworms. One came back positive for Protozoa (When I bought her, I took her to the vet for a fecal check, and she had protozoa, we treated it twice, and she still has them!!). I got medication for everyone and administered it the weekend.
I e-mailed a very reputable breeder, one I have purchased from before, and told him of my problems. He told me that is the reason he doesn't feed crickets, and he only feeds his mealies and pinkies. That is why I wanted to try pinks. I know of course too much is bad, but once a month is what I was going for. And I like my leo's fat. Also I am prepairing for breeding.

Sounds like a plan, I wasn't knocking you just wanted to make sure you were going this route for the right reasons. Have you tried roaches, silkworms or waxworms? Geckos (well at least mine) go for these as well. I think all of these are cheaper than pinks and if you breed them yourself, the availabilty is always what you need when you need it. Besides I have to feed live little hoppers to my baby ball pythons and I usually hate myself for a few minutes
Hope you get your geckos well & parasite free.
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www.hullabalooherps.com

Glad you understand now
I acctually have not tried roaches yet, and I do breed them - but my colony is small and I was trying to let them breed for a while - I'll try to give them some and see if they take them.
As for the wax worms, I thought they weren't very nutritious. I also had a bearded dragon get "addicted" to them once - it was all I could get her to eat for a while.
We used to breed mice for our snakes as well, we've stopped since I kept getting attached to all of them. We got too many "pets"

Oh yeah, I think I may give the silkworms a try. I've bought them before, but not to feed my leo's. Maybe I'll give that a shot - I also have 2 mulberry trees out front my house - so they are easy to feed. Damn do those worms eat A LOT!

You don't want to feed any insects or the such that comes from outside. You don't know what they've been in. Not to mention they aren't gutloaded like the ones you raise or buy that are raised just for breeding.

Feeding things from outside can just add to your parasite problems or can cause your critters to get more sick if they've been through fertilized ground or plants or stuff like that.

As for waxies, just watch because they can be fattening as well.
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Trish
2.0.0 Tremper Albino Leopard Gecko "Lyle" and "Thor"
0.1.0 Hypo-Gold Leopard Gecko "Goldie"
0.1.0 High Yellow Lavender Jungle Leopard Gecko "Lucky"
0.1.0 Super Hypo Tangerine Carrot Tail Leopard Gecko "Storm"
0.1.0 Blizzard Leopard Gecko "Ice"
0.1.0 Normal Leopard Gecko "Cosmo"
0.1.0 Cockatiel "Jewel"
0.1.0 Pitbull/Golden Retriever "Guiness"
0.2.0 Cats "Athena" and "Violet"
0.1.0 Horse "Arian Gold Karma"
And who knows how many fish

I never feed mine anything from outside.

I fed my geckos pinkies once. I went out and brought a live one.

Try wiggling the pinkies in front of them a little. Dead things don't really attract my geckos.

I used a pair of tweezers and wiggled in in front of the hide box and she ate it like a champ. But that might be because she just laid 2 eggs. that was the first time i ever tryed pinkies to the geckos.