help getting hatchling off geckos

I have a hatchling who is anti-mouse. Her name is Dazzler (Dazz), and she's my only homegrown hatchling to date. She was a non-feeder for just over a month, and I was trying the various tricks. Dazz had no interest whatsoever in plain f/t pinkies, brained pinkies, washed pinkies, pinkies scented with dirty bedding from 2 species, or pinkies soaked in tuna water. Pinkies rubbed with fried chicken, bacon grease, and frog left her unimpressed. Dazz's parents are the most laid-back, gentle creatures you can imagine, and tease feeding attempts were a dismal failure. After 30 frustrating minutes, I did get a strike. She let go immediately and seemed utterly repulsed by the whole affair. Two more strikes, same result. I was getting concerned.

We have an abundance of Mediterranean/house geckos around my house. Geckos have handy detachable tails, so my son and I went on a gecko hunt. When I put Dazzler into the deli cup with her first gecko tail she attentively checked it and ATE THE WHOLE THING IMMEDIATELY. She looked grateful that I'd finally offered her some actual food, instead of that mousy nonsense which was clearly (to her at least) inedible.

After three successive gecko tails, I tried a washed pinky that had been rubbed with the blood from the gecko's tail. The result was the same as with all the other mice. That night she also refused the tail, apparently because it smelled of mouse.

Three more feedings of gecko have been happily and promptly consumed.
She's now up to 2 tails per feeding, and I decided to try another trick. I washed a f/t pinky carefully, then made a hole in the body lengthwise. I obtained a tail from an obliging gecko and inserted the terminal end into the pinky's body. The two were sutured together with a strand of my hair, trimmed to fit of course. I put this odd combo meal into the same deli cup, and put Dazz in with it.

She went into feeding mode, as she always does now in her feeding cup. She investigated the mouse briefly and pulled away. She checked the protruding gecko tail thoroughly, but wouldn't eat. When she got mouse on her face, she actually wiped it on the side of the deli cup. Cute, BUT!!
After 2 hours had passed, I deconstructed my Frankenstein's snake food, removed the pinky and washed the gecko tail. Dazz still disdained to eat gecko that was contaminated with mouse.

Am I going to have to continue to be a plague on the local gecko population for the rest of this creature's life? Any suggestions for getting her switched to mice would be welcome.

Usually everyone here really, really discourages feeding things you catch outside. There is so much risk of disease.. bacteria.. If you MUST feed lizzard try buying a small anole from petco or another petstore. They are little lizzards that haven't been exposed to who knows what outdoors. They aren't TOO expensive, I think around $3.00?

Have you tried rubbing the mouse with lizzard? It sounds like you have a pretty smart little girl, but it's worth a try? Give it a good rub down with lizzard smell. (Yummm) =)
Also you didn't mention you tried braining? Sometimes that can make all the difference in the world.

Good luck!
Ali

Catch a lizard, and freeze it (after putting it in the fridge for a few hours first). Once it's good and frozen, skin it, and wrap a section of the skin around the pink.

Or, you could always try a live pink. It might be the movement that's stimulating her appetite.

Ack, that was graphic Robbie lol =)

Originally Posted by Zulu3

Ack, that was graphic Robbie lol =)

If it works, it works! Sometimes, you gotta be graphic to get results! LOL.

Another method you could try is catching a few lizards, dry 'em out, and stick them in a coffee grinder or something similar. Wash the pink, and then roll them in powdered lizard until they're covered.

It's true. We become little slaves and do crazy stuff like stick raisin lizzards in a blender to get our babies to eat haha... =)

Gotta love em!

You know, Caryl, Baton Rouge, downtown and garden district, is heavy-laden with those same geckos. And I have seriously thought, off and on, about trying them out or stocking up on them myself.
I was just afraid that once the picky feeder got set in his ways on geckos, I would never get him/her onto mice.

Originally Posted by Zulu3

It's true. We become little slaves and do crazy stuff like stick raisin lizzards in a blender to get our babies to eat haha... =)

Gotta love em!

I have considered the blender route, too.

Luckily it hasn't come to that.

I had a clutch that wouldn't eat for months. I finally cooled them down to 55degrees and left them there for two months. Slowly warmed them and they all ate...one died a few weeks later after only one meal. It's a shot. Could work.

I'd be willing to bet that any anoles in a petstore are more than likely WC...And I'd be happy to have a baby snake that eats, even if it _is_ geckos. I don't have any great suggestions, though. Maybe let her get really hungry, then catch a bunch of geckos and put a live pink in with them to let them really scent it up. Maybe wash the pink first. Maybe try gecko saliva? That's what they use to toad-scent for Eastern hoggies...