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leos don't like pinkies?

cookreptiles

cookreptiles

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i picked up some pinkies today while i was at the pet store getting some other things because i have heard plenty about other people feeding them to their leos. i thought it would be a nice treat for my girls. well, apparently they don't think so! they all seemed interested--came out and poked at the pinkies and licked them, but acted like they just didn't really know what to do with them. is this normal the first time you offer leos a pinky? based on their reaction to crickets and other moving bugs i expected them to gobble them up but no such luck. i feel kinda bad for the tiny little pinkies now.... should i just leave them in with the leos and see if they decide to chow down? i can't imagine the pinks will make it too long without their momma. :/
 
Try wiggling the pinkies in front of the geckos...drag them away a little bit...basically make them move a little more. I had that problem the first time I tried to get my geckos to eat pinkies...but now pretty much everyone who can eat them will...you just have to get them to try it first.
 
mine are split about half and half... some seem to love em, others, meh, couldn't be bothered. Not sure why that is, could just be that some weren't exposed to them as a food item young enough and really aren't sure what to make of them?
 
well the girls wouldn't have it. i wiggled and dragged and danced those little pinkies all over but they just gave me the cold shoulder. so my chahoua and my leachie got to try something new for dinner and i must say things went over much better with them. so at least the pinks weren't wasted and now i know i better. :)
 
They may not be interested in them until the middle of the night, I have found that if I put the pinks is a short deli so they can't get out but hte leos can get to them they are all eaten by the next am. Trying between 6 and 8pm may not spark their interest to east since they are nocturnal eaters.
 
hm, ok i may try again sometime later and leave them in overnight. i put them in a little deli cup for about 30 minutes or so today but when i went back to check the leos had knocked it over and the pinkies were squirming around all over so i just took them out.
 
some leos just wont have them. Some of mine eat frozen pinks, and it has nothing to do with early exposure. some I have raised from babies and love them and some just wont have them. An interesting sidenote, I had a female that loved them, so for a change I offered a live pinkie. She grabbed it right quick, but when that poor thing started screaming and whining she spit it out. Wouldnt ever touch them after that. I also have a female who used to eat nothing but waxies, wont touch em now. I believe it is a learned food aversion based on prior bad experience with that food item. Maybe just a taste thing. Perhaps some leos only like food with a crunch? lol
 
Why feed pinkies in the first place if a diet of gut loaded insects combined with the proper supplements has been found to meet all of their nutitional needs?
and then why would you want to force them to eat a pinky if they are not even interested in doing so?
I do not mean to be rude here-I am just curious
Sandy
 
Who is saying to force them?....how is wiggling pinky so it moves more forcing a gecko to eat it?.... My leos mostly love pinkies. I give pinkies to help them gain weight and give them a little variety. Yes supplemented insects give them pretty much what they need...but I think they are a little healthier with a bit of variety and pinkies have a completely different nutritional composition than do the insects.
 
Id never force them either, don't even know how that could be done but the insects do not provide the varied diet of what they would have in nature. Sure by the time we gutload them and dust them to the high heavens they are an adequate food source but variety is the key to any successful diet.

I love the a good salad with some ham and cheese and a little ranch dressing, sure it is healthy and has what i need to survive but it'd be one boring life to eat the same thing day in and out for the rest of my life so I do not expect my leos to only eat mealies and crix day in and out.

They deserve a nutritional variety too!
 
"I love the a good salad with some ham and cheese and a little ranch dressing, sure it is healthy and has what i need to survive but it'd be one boring life to eat the same thing day in and out for the rest of my life so I do not expect my leos to only eat mealies and crix day in and out. "

I wouldnt' put it that way. Animals actually prefer a very consistent diet...that is why they can be very resistant to new foods. Variety means nothing to an animal (except perhaps to some of the ape species). They may have specific things they like better than others...even if they aren't the best for them and they go crazy when they get those things.....but variety has nothing to do with it. An animal would be perfectly content to eat the same thing every day of its life. The first way you explained it is the best way of putting it.
 
Both of my breeder females love pinkies, but my males will not touch them.
I have never tried to force the issue with them, but I know that a good strategy for getting baby snakes to feed on pinkies is to "bleed" them a little.....

Wayne
 
I feel very strongly that a varied diet is best. Ive asked about it and talked to several breeders over the last 3+ years so its not something I just pulle dout of my head lol

There are quite a few threads you can find here where it had been discussed over and over about how and with what to vary the diet.

A good staple, the main food can/should be consistant but the more variety you offer the leos the healthier they will be.
 
No no...that's not what I meant...I said variety is good for them. However variety actually means nothing to them mentally...they don't get bored of eating the same thing over and over. That was my point. If all their nutritional needs were met properly and fully with one food source there would be no need or reason to vary their diet...however with the normal food sources we use for leos they are not getting their optimal nutrition...which varying can give them. I said a varied diet was good for them...just not for the one reason you gave.
 
Maybe some of my leos are just weird because they do seem to get bored with food.

I have quite a few that eat the mealies (staple) everyday with no problems and others that will jsut stop eating for a couple of days and as soon as they see a pink or a cricket they pound it down. So to me they were bored with only mealies since as soon as they get that variety they go back to the mealies everyday without problems.
 
I would say that's more being picky and knowing they can get what they want...not them being bored. I'm not making it up...this is something I learned in my nutrition class.
 
But if they prefer a consistant diet and variety means nothing to them, then why would they hold out for a treat?

I think they prefer variety and expect it. I don't think that is being picky, its being smart enough to want soemthing else to eat.

Maybe they are not as smart as I think they are but holding out to get variety would surely be pretty smart and proof that they want a variety of foods.

If they prefer consisteny and variety means nothing they would have no reason to hold out for a different food lol
 
Prefering a certain type of food doesn't mean they prefer variety. Wanting something else doesn't mean they prefer variety either....it means they prefer something else. Wanting variety and prefering a specific food are completely different things. Prefering consistency is probably the wrong way of saying it... But variety meaning nothing doesn't mean they won't hold out for something they really like....lol I mean...a dog can be fed the same food every day of its life and it will eat it with gusto every time....but then if you went and gave it a steak one day its possible that it would refuse its regular food the next day b/c it prefered they steak...that doesn't mean it prefers variety...that means it prefers steak!
 
Either way I still think they prefer variety, if I give them a pink and they don't eat it then give it to them again 3 days later doesn't mean they don't like pinks, just means they didn't want it that day and they didn't hold out ofr a special trat, they ate it when they wanted to.

Like I said, maybe they are not as smart as I think they are, I think they are intelligent enough to prefer a natural diet that consists of a good variety.

Don't get me started on dogs, I bred Rotties for several years and have owned them for close to 20 now. They also need a variety of food, not just some kibble thrown at them everyday. I had one that wanted lettece and tomatoes constantly, go figure a vege dog. And if they do get that steak and learn they prefer that variety in their diet they are pretty smart since meat is better than kibble any day.
 
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