Hi everyone! Turns out Zeppelin is a BOY! I thought for sure she was a girl, but turns out I sexed "her" wrong. The vet says HE is a healthy boy and looks very good. Ironically, very passive, yet active, and LOVES being held. Then the vet mentioned the mouse...

He's an adult now and turns out I need to feed him two mice a month (for extra nutrients). I left the vet's office so bewildered (I considered myself a trooper for dealing with the crickets!), and realized I forgot to ask a very important question. Is the pinkie supposed to be alive or freeze-dried? To my knowledge, Zeppy has only ever been fed live crickets. I adopted him almost a year ago and the previous owners never fed him anything but crickets. I started him on calcium enriched crickets and also larger crickets. He will not eat the dead crickets, or the freeze-dried kind. He is nine inches long now.

I thought I'd turn to my reptile experts and ask for your opinions.. You all have some knowledge to share and I'd greatly appreciate any ideas/suggestions about the pinkie.

And hope you enjoy the new pictures!

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what a great looking leo.

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I feed mine a frozen/thawed pinkie but I have to trick them into eating it. Usually I put some crickets in there and when they start going after them I drag the pinkie slow by the tail in front of the gecko. Silly gecko thinks its a cricket and chomps down on it. I do it that way because I hate to hear the little pinkie squeal when its alive and being munched on. Like a bad jurassic park or something.

Be careful: there's a difference between "freeze-dried" and "frozen/thawed" although I'm sure you meant the latter.
I recommend buying frozen pinkies (cheaper, always on hand, more humane) But you have to thaw them out and warm them up before feeding.
The easiest way is to drop them into a pan of warm water and leave them in there for 20 minutes or so (depending on the size of the pinkie). Then just before feeding, add really hot (not boiling) water to the pan (or you can warm it up under a heat lamp or with a hairdryer.) Then like Sphinx said, just move it around a bit with some tongs and he should get the idea it's food and go for it.
Good luck. Really cute gecko by the way!

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Andrea

Hello,

I don't know why your vet suggested feeding 2 pinkies per month. Those of us that have been keeping leopard geckos for years only use pinkies with our females when we are breeding. (I am sure some people use them more frequently, but they aren't required.)

I currently own 15 leopard geckos, and none of them are eating pinkies and haven't for almost a year. I didn't breed this past season. Almost all of my leopard geckos are over 65 grams in weight feeding a diverse selection of insects.

I can 100% assure you that feeding the pinkies is optional and not required. I tell everyone that has been informed they "need" to feed pinkies to a leo that it is a misconception.

I do however endorse the feeding of pinkies when you are breeding. The added nutrients helps keep the weight on the females between clutches.

Since this leo is a male, I don't believe you need to feed them at all. (My males don't get pinkies at all. Not even during breeding season.)

Thats just my opinion though. lol

IF you decide to feed them though, do as suggested. You should also try to find the smallest pinkies you can seeing as they can run on the large side sometimes. Unlike feeding insects, feeding pinkies can be pretty nasty. The leo has to "chew" them really well in order to get them ingested and it is not always a clean process.

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I never feed pinkies to my Leopard Geckos, feeding them twice a month would be overkill as far as I am concerned, like Rich said they are best for breeding.

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"What is now proven was once only imagined." - William Blake

~*~Lacey~*~

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very cute leo! I just love his spots alot!

I am so glad to hear pinkies are not required cause I was getting nervous. I have never fed them to Sunshine and she is so big and healthy..she can barely fit in her hides anymore.