I'm reconsidering attempting to breed this female this year. (pictures)

So this girl has been a sporadic feeder for the past 6ish months, in this time she's eaten a bunch of mice (around 3 mice per feeding every 5 days for around 4 or 5 feedings before I attempted to switch her to rats.) One small rat (live) and one weanling rat (f/t) both rats where a result of scenting the enclosure with mouse bedding. I've since removed her hide box and attempted to feed her 1 medium rat and 1 live mouse, both where denied. About 2 weeks ago she weighed in at 1869 grams. I'm going to give her one more chance to take a med. rat with mouse bedding scenting combined with a couple of tricks that where passed onto me via this forum. If she takes the rat I'll give her a couple months to beef up before pairing her, if she doesn't take it I'm going to pair her to see if she'll eat then.



Pictures: http://imgur.com/GeDk6Eh http://imgur.com/vwvg3Rb http://imgur.com/fRyLTVr The measuring tape is set to 2ft and the water bottle is 500ml about 3 inches thick. She's 1860 grams, but she looks kind of skinny to me.

Zoomed in: http://imgur.com/enpinvI http://imgur.com/nDH6Nn2

She looks ok to me to be honest.

If she will eat multiple mice reliably then that is what I would feed her - you will probably find it easier to convert her to rats after she lays.

Last time she denied a live mouse, so honestly at this point I'm not sure what's going on with her. I'm going to try the mouse bedding scenting with a med. rat and I'll have a couple mice defrosted as backup, if she doesn't eat the mice I guess somebody else gets a snack. I think that she looks skinny in the pictures when shes stretched out because she's moving, in the ones where shes staying still she looked okay.

How old is she ? Is this her first season?

Based on her age and shape breeding her could actually kick start her appetite again.

While I prefer my female to be nice and plump (can't really tell for your from that angle), I have also paired females on the leaner side simply because the age was right and they were just female on the smaller side.

Since she has been mainly a mouser I would keep trying with those, probably breed her (again if she feels right) and I would attempt to switch her after she lays her first clutch.

The best type to switch a female to another food is to do so right after they lay their first clutch (they will switch to anything).

Good news is that sporadic feeder can also make a complete turn around after being bred for the first time.

She's a '11 baby, she dropped a clutch last year and was pounding rats before I got her. It is difficult to tell from the pictures, but a bit thicker then a pop can. My hope is that since she's been bred before, she'll kick back into shape and feed for me again after I pair her. I'm still going to go by the same schedule I had planned out, pairing her on the 15th unless she eats for me the next time I offer.

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Originally Posted by speedycat222

She's a '11 baby, she dropped a clutch last year and was pounding rats before I got her. It is difficult to tell from the pictures, but a bit thicker then a pop can. My hope is that since she's been bred before, she'll kick back into shape and feed for me again after I pair her. I'm still going to go by the same schedule I had planned out, pairing her on the 15th unless she eats for me the next time I offer.

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Did she put back on all the weight + more since laying last year?

That would be my only issue, I don't breed a female unless she has gain back everything + more but aside from that, but if she did her appetite should kick back in, this time of the year female tend to be voracious and if not starting to pair them often does the trick.

I'm not sure about what her weight was after she laid, but I saw a picture and she resembled a sock filled with sand. She's trim but shes firm and muscular, doesn't just flop around. As always thanks for the advice. I know she has a strong feeding response, the guy I bought her from warned me she lunges right out of the tub, and she has done that to me on multiple occasions for mice.