Caryl
BrightHope
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.
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.
Maybe I could try gradually reducing the size of the gecko/skin relative to the mouse.