Yes!! She's back on normal prey!!

I posted recently about finally getting Nerissa (3-4 year old CH normal) to eat, after a stressful 9-month fast. It took a bag of frozen ASFs to break her fast, and when those were gone I wasn't sure what to do - since ASFs are illegal here in CA. I tried a couple of mice, both live and frozen, but she wasn't having any of that... so yesterday I offered a small(ish) live rat, and she took it right away. :gj: I'm so relieved, because I honestly wasn't sure I could keep an ASF-only eater. And I really love this girl!

I am also really happy about her weight gain, since going back on feed... she had dropped from 1900+ down to about 1600g, and now she's back up to nearly 2000. Awesome! :) She looks nice and plump again, and her personality seems to have returned as well (she was kinda listless & cranky toward the end of her fast). Oh, and she gave me her first poop in over 6 months last night, about 5 hours after eating her rat... it was a fairly small poop, so I guess her body held onto most of the nutrients. Here are a couple of photos from last night, from when I was cleaning her poopy tub:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...3/P1010631.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...3/P1010629.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...3/P1010626.jpg

Now compare that to how thin she was a few months ago... :(
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...2/DSCN2142.jpg

Congrats! Glad she's back on the wagon!

I need my spider girl to do the same.

Thanks, and good luck with your spider! Have you tried different kinds of prey? Live, frozen, mice, rats, ASFs, etc? I now have three with strong preferences... Delilah only eats mice, and Nerissa & Rosalind only eat rats. I've been thinking about breeding my own feeders, but with these picky eaters I'd need colonies of both species! :cool:

yay, send some luck my way, I have a couple of stubborn ones ATM.
Had some shipped in and they refuse to eat :(

I had 2 in the past couple of days go back on feed , 1 from a 10 month fast and another from an 11 month

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

I had 2 in the past couple of days go back on feed , 1 from a 10 month fast and another from an 11 month

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Wow, and I thought Nerissa went a long time! :rolleyes: I would say the weather helped them to start eating, but that really doesn't apply here... it's been under 60* all summer, so I was actually afraid she was too confused to eat. We have only two seasons here - rainy and foggy. :cool:

Of course now Toby the pastel is on a fast, and hasn't eaten in over 2 months... he was a great feeder before now, so it probably has to do with his first breeding season (he cycled between my two big girls all winter/spring). Hopefully he gets back on feed more quickly than Nerissa, because he's not that big to begin with!