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leos don't like pinkies?

Michale and Christina, that rubbed me the wrong way too but I didn't want to say anything.

Im 36 and Ive spent my time in college for various associates degrees and worked for a vet and get called from animal control much to often where I still volunteer. What I have learned from all of the college until I was well in my very late 20's because I still wanted to know more about more things, and what I have learned at the vets and animal control are nothing compared to my personal thoughts and daily experience.

But NONE of that has anything to do with why I feed the way I do. I think they are intelligent creatures. While I have been sick hubby has had to feed them quite a bit and they have squawked at him and ran. When I get to a bin they run up to say hey its me, what you got there!

So if they are smart enough to know the hand that feeds them I feel they are smart enough to know that they prefer different food items and a variety.

So Im done with this thread really, we all feel the way we do for a reason and thats a part of life!
 
Christina, the only back up you need is your opinion, it may be different form mine but thats fine, mine is different from yours.

As long as you state your opinion in a well articulated way it is and has been well received, when you try to throw in the "Im a ....) it puts a little sting to it that others with more or less experience take in a weird way.

its almost like I felt you were saying, so what about what you have experienced and have learned Im right because....

Hey its a big issue, has been with reptiles since I was a kid with my first iguana, and it will always be a big issue since there is so much more to learn every day from alot of people and from personal feelings and experience.
 
Heh no problem.
Actually though, I wouldn't value a professor's opinion of why a Leopard Gecko would be apt to refuse a food item, or whether or not a Leopard Gecko would like a variety.
I mean, with all the supplements, vitamins, and calcium out there, you could have a leo live a long, healthy life off of crickets. I personally prefer to feed them a staple of crickets/mealies, with treats in the form of pinkie mice, and wax worms. They really enjoy seeing those pinkies, and the waxies as well, and seem to welcome and relish the chance to get a new, or even anticipated food.
As for why I wouldn't really value the professor over a breeder is because the breeders are the ones with plenty of hands on experiance. They are the ones who have seen the results of going from a one menu diet, to a variety, and see the reactions when a new prey item is introduced. Unless the professor can provide me with what the gecko is actually thinking, and what the thought process is... Then we might have a favoritism of the professor. I mean, yeah the professor will be a very smart individual, and would be a reliable source, but unless s/he is a keeper, and a long time observer of the species, what backing does his voice really have besides what someone else told him, or what he read in a book...?
 
Oh and thank you for telling me why I sounded obnoxious....it seems like everyone else just jumps down my throat and basically tells me I'm a jerk without telling me why I sound like that... I say those things because I DON'T feel superior to everyone else...I feel the need to back myself up somehow...
 
Well it looks like after all this, the thread can now drift into the abyss with both sides coming to a head, and neither giving in.
Hell, I love a good conversation about things with people who have the opposite opinions. While I don't agree with what they say, I do appreciate seeing the passion.
I just hate when people try and make into an argument. There was this girl I would talk politics with, and after 2 or 3 minutes "Jesus Mike, I'm not going to argue with you" as if she was mad her attempt to persuade me to be a democrat didn't succeed. It was rather irritating, and still to this day, whenever we have different opinions, her response is just "whatever Mike, Im not going to argue". It's actually a load of BS. Used to consider her a real close friend, and she has to push people away with her domineering personality...
 
...ok yeah...I don't know how i posted that again....sorry....I was out drinking last night with a couple friends and their dads and I totally don't remember what happened after they walked me home....lol

Anyway I'm glad we can all agree to disagree :)
 
Golden Gate Geckos said:
You can always use a pinky press if your gecko won't eat one and you really feel a burning desire to feed it one!
Click to expand...
saltwaterreptiles said:
"pinky press"??? Gory details please...
Click to expand...
Gory doesn't even come close! It is a large stainless steel cylinder with a plunger (just like a huge syringe) with a feeding tube in the end. The pinky is placed in the cylinder, and when the plunger is pressed the pinky is crushed to a pulp so it can be squeezed through the tube into the reptiles' stomach. http://www.tongs.com/shop/index.php?GrID=40&PrID=80
 
wow, that sounds....nice? :) i think if my girls decide they don't want the pinkies after i offer them a few times i'll just let them stick with their mealies and crickets. i just wanted to try offering them as an occassional treat anyhow.
 
There is really no arguing the fact that there is a general improvement in weight, and overall health, and healthy appearance and behaviors when provided a well balanced, and nutritionally sufficient diet consisting of various, not singular offered food items.
Click to expand...

Have any scientific proof of that? I would be really interested in reading it, if you do.

I believe that a varied diet is good for leopard geckos. Do they PREFER it over a diet of, say, strictly mealworms? Who knows? It would make for a great experiment. Wish I had the time and space to do it.
 
Quite a heated debate this has turned into. I gotta go with the varied diet though, not only is it healthy for the herp in question it is also more fun for the keeper and probably the animal. I keep mainly mealworms as a staple but i have a small collection and i can actually watch them "hunt" and even though I'm not the one hunting i find it to be boring seeing them eat one kind of prey item out of a bowl for extended feedings. So i remedy this by giving them crickets and others items not only for the nutritional value but merely to see the "happy" and excited expressions they get in chasing down different food items. I know alot of you guys have large numbers of geckos and don't often get to see them all "hunt" so i cant say much on that matter.
 
Golden Gate Geckos said:
Gory doesn't even come close! It is a large stainless steel cylinder with a plunger (just like a huge syringe) with a feeding tube in the end. The pinky is placed in the cylinder, and when the plunger is pressed the pinky is crushed to a pulp so it can be squeezed through the tube into the reptiles' stomach. http://www.tongs.com/shop/index.php?GrID=40&PrID=80
Click to expand...

Gads.... I just got an image of a playdough press with strands of red playdough comng through the end... nice... lol...
 
wow i knew that when a pinky posts exceeds 3 pages, their is a fued lol. No one can talk about feeding pinks for 11 pages!

Personally i feed my breeding females pinks. Some will take them, some will not. I don't force it.

What i feed personally is a staple of silkworms (i like it better because of the lack of that tough exo, plus ratings say they are better. Natural calcium and all that jazz :) ) but they also get superworms and waxworms. I don't tend to feed mealies except to my hatchlings, only because it's popping nothing to some of my leos! I don't feed crix anymore because they smell and bug the leos too much if they miss one.

Leos I at least know have preferences, and are intellegent enough to have preferences of what they enjoy more than other things. They will eat the other stuff, or may not. I have a stripe female i got from Hailey that will NOT eat silkworms, but will take down a super anyday. However all my leos seem to perfer the silkies, i think its the nice soft body. Because when i do buy waxworms, they enjoy those too. Except that stripe female. lol.

I think its more of a "Hey there is food, and i'm going to eat it because it's food!" and they will go for it. It's more of a hunting instict. Because how many times has our fingers been mistaken for a superworm, or silkworm?

I would like to see advanced research on Leopard gecko's natural diets. I'm sure they eat a big variety of bugs, mice babies when available, and maybe even some other reptile eggs or bird eggs, that may be nesting on the ground. Heck, they may even eat some form of plant matter when food is sparce.

Does anyone have any advanced research on leopard gecko diets? Any dissection of the stomach contents of a wild gecko? I'd be interested...
 
I wouldnt say this was a "heated" debate, or a "fued". I personally enjoy just swapping opinions with people.
I never once, except for when Christina brought up the argument, and the comments of "Im in a college nutrition class..." and "Im a pre-vet major in college". Those 2 points are the only negatives. Otherwise, it was fun to participate in this thread.
 
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