My MONSTER Male Grande Terre Yates

[aschnell]

Originally Posted by maguyon

I realize that feeding live prey every week may be a little too much but, it appears to be working and ok for them. anyone have any thoughts on this...?

When I talked to my exotic reptile vet he assured me mice have optimal protein to calcium ratios and fairly balanced vitamin content (as far as gecko food is concerned). He provided me with some scientific nutritional content studies of mice to reassure me. He said the only reason feeding mice would be "bad" for a Leachie is if the gecko physically eats too much. Since GTs are fairly carnivorous, live prey (usually) trigger a stronger feeding instinct than CGD or fruit would, and therefore the animal ends up eating a much greater amount of live prey than it would eat if fed CGD instead. If a gecko ate as much CGD as another obese gecko ate mice, it would in theory become just as obese.

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Originally Posted by maguyon

but...they are just not as fun though...

True true, but I realized yesterday I spend more feeding my geckos every day than I spend on food for myself... That was an intense reality check

[maguyon]

but that doesn't really count...because sometimes i forget to eat....

[Menhir]

Originally Posted by aschnell

Has anyone has success with F/T mice? They're so much cheaper...

I am feeding F/T mice only. When I started with snakes, I used to breed mice so there was not much need for F/T for the adults. But if you have several hundred hatchlings, the whole mice breeding thing becomes a major bottleneck regarding the time (or money if you don't have your own stock). Since then, I am receiving F/T from a large distributor and I tend to say 98% of the snakes do not have any problems with F/T.
With the leachies, I just tried a live mouse once (as well as an ill ciliatus) and I have to say I am not that satisfied with their killing abilities. Thus, I decided to just use F/T for the leachies and all of my animals eat them. (Tested it with more than 20 animals and had really no issues at all.)

Best,
Micha

[aschnell]

Originally Posted by Menhir

I am feeding F/T mice only. When I started with snakes, I used to breed mice so there was not much need for F/T for the adults. But if you have several hundred hatchlings, the whole mice breeding thing becomes a major bottleneck regarding the time (or money if you don't have your own stock). Since then, I am receiving F/T from a large distributor and I tend to say 98% of the snakes do not have any problems with F/T.
With the leachies, I just tried a live mouse once (as well as an ill ciliatus) and I have to say I am not that satisfied with their killing abilities. Thus, I decided to just use F/T for the leachies and all of my animals eat them. (Tested it with more than 20 animals and had really no issues at all.)

Best,
Micha

So exactly (step by step) do you go about offering an F/T pinkie to a Leachie?

[aschnell]

Originally Posted by maguyon

but that doesn't really count...because sometimes i forget to eat....

Hahaha alright alright fair enough I agree, me too

[Menhir]

Originally Posted by aschnell

So exactly (step by step) do you go about offering an F/T pinkie to a Leachie?

I can make you a video if you prefer. :-)
No, just kidding.

1) Thrawing
I use warm water to thraw the pinkies. At about 40°C it typically takes half an hour or something. If you take them in your hand and the pinky doesn't get cold after a short time, then the "core" of the pinky is warm as well. After a while, you just know when they are done.

2) Feeding
2a) Typical case
Use a tweezers, hold the pinky next to the leachies head such that it can see it and then hope that it will not kill you as well. For some of my adults, I "show" them the pinky and then lay it down somewhere near them because otherwise they are so aggressive, I fear they could injure themselves because of the tweezers.
2b) Picky eaters
Cut the head of the pinky and push out a little of the brain. Then go on with 2a).
2c) Very picky eaters
Perform steps 2b) and the use the tweezers to tease the gecko with the pinky near his snout. Wave the pinky a bit around, also try to "attack" the gecko with the pinky. I have the feeling that some very young leachies do not "recognize" the pinky as something that lives, so 2c) is something that I had to do with like 3 or 4 very young animals. After they had eaten F/T pinky like 3-5 times, they know that the smell means food and 2b) or 2a) is the way to go.

...there is one gecko that needs a special trick here: He want to lick the brain and only if there is no more brain left (he really licks into the pinkys head...), he slightly bites in the head. Then you have to immediately loswn the tweezers such that the pinky hangs in his mouth, then it'll eat. Otherwise, it'll just bight and the spit it out again.

Best,
Micha

[aschnell]

Originally Posted by Menhir

I can make you a video if you prefer. :-)
No, just kidding.

1) Thrawing
I use warm water to thraw the pinkies. At about 40°C it typically takes half an hour or something. If you take them in your hand and the pinky doesn't get cold after a short time, then the "core" of the pinky is warm as well. After a while, you just know when they are done.

2) Feeding
2a) Typical case
Use a tweezers, hold the pinky next to the leachies head such that it can see it and then hope that it will not kill you as well. For some of my adults, I "show" them the pinky and then lay it down somewhere near them because otherwise they are so aggressive, I fear they could injure themselves because of the tweezers.
2b) Picky eaters
Cut the head of the pinky and push out a little of the brain. Then go on with 2a).
2c) Very picky eaters
Perform steps 2b) and the use the tweezers to tease the gecko with the pinky near his snout. Wave the pinky a bit around, also try to "attack" the gecko with the pinky. I have the feeling that some very young leachies do not "recognize" the pinky as something that lives, so 2c) is something that I had to do with like 3 or 4 very young animals. After they had eaten F/T pinky like 3-5 times, they know that the smell means food and 2b) or 2a) is the way to go.

...there is one gecko that needs a special trick here: He want to lick the brain and only if there is no more brain left (he really licks into the pinkys head...), he slightly bites in the head. Then you have to immediately loswn the tweezers such that the pinky hangs in his mouth, then it'll eat. Otherwise, it'll just bight and the spit it out again.

Best,
Micha

Now that kind of post is what I think the "thank" button is really meant for

[pakinjak]

Next question... at what size do you start feeding pinkies? Roughly...

[Drew Stevens]

Originally Posted by pakinjak

Next question... at what size do you start feeding pinkies? Roughly...

Personally, I start offering very small pink mice (1-2 days old) to my leachies at around 50g. I would say that approximately 50% take to them at that size, particularly the GT animals, including GT crosses. Every one of my adult animals will take rodents, some more than others however. Most will take them every time offered, where others, particularly younger female henkeli's, may only eat 1 or 2 per month.

Originally Posted by aschnell

So exactly (step by step) do you go about offering an F/T pinkie to a Leachie?

Like Menhir, I have feed F/T to my geckos, and his methods are pretty much spot on with mine. Fortunately where I work has a steady supply of Live and Frozen feeders so for the most part I feed live out of convenience.

I always feed off tongs (hemostats), which I rubber coated the first couple of inches because some of the geckos do hit them pretty hard and I feared they may damage their snouts. I have tried leaving them in bowls in the usual feeding location, but I found several animals either ignored, or only "mangled" the rodents using this method.

[Menhir]

Originally Posted by Drew Stevens

so for the most part I feed live out of convenience.

Well, I feed F/T out of convenience because I can thaw them whenever I need to, maybe I am late from work or something happens such that I have to shift feeding. With live mice and pinkies in particular, the time window where responsible keeping of them is possible is rather low (if you don't breed them yourself). I simply don't like to keep pinkies away from their mother for hours and have like 30 of them in one tub. I know some people don't care about that, but I do. So of you have a good source for live mice that you can pickup on demand, then I think it's no problem. But even in this case, what if some animals are not eaten? I would have enough snakes to get rid of them, but some may not.
To make the point, one should also ensure responsible and appropriate keeping for feeder animals and I find F/T very convenient in that sense.

I also feed small pinkies also to way smaller leachies, but way more seldom. I think I start when they are above 10g with one mini pinky every 3 months or so.

Best,
Micha