Vote for BP.Net for the 2013 Forum of the Year! Click here for more info.

» Site Navigation

» Home
 > FAQ

» Online Users: 685

1 members and 684 guests
Most users ever online was 47,180, 07-16-2025 at 05:30 PM.

» Today's Birthdays

None

» Stats

Members: 75,905
Threads: 249,101
Posts: 2,572,083
Top Poster: JLC (31,651)
Welcome to our newest member, Pattyhud

Winter fast?

Printable View

  • 12-19-2018, 04:06 PM
    bnorb
    Winter fast?
    So my little guy started fasting around the middle/end of October. I'm not exactly sure when, because he is prone to missing a few meals here and there. So I've kept track of his weight since Nov. 19, which looks like this:
    2018.11.19 593g
    2018.11.26 583g
    2018.12.03 582g
    2018.12.10 570g
    2018.12.16 571g

    Before I've started keeping track of his weight, he was 628g if I recall correctly, but had a pretty big poop, so the 593g should be realistic. He is about 1.5 years old, and I think he should weight a bit more. He was a problem eater when I got him, so there were quite a few missed meals while transitioning from live mice to F/T rats.

    What keeps me calm (yet) is that he behaves like his normal self. Hides all day, then comes out at night for a bit of climbing and streching. Doesn't seem stressed even if I get him out (he is always pretty chill about handling). Also he is drinking normally.

    Humidity is around 50-60%, I mist the enclosure about once every two days.
    Ambient temp is about 26-27°C(78.8- 80.6°F), the temp in the warm hide is around 33°C(91.4°F).
    He has 3 hides, uses all of them.
    Substrate is cypress mulch, I've switched from aspen shavings recently.

    I've tried feeding about once every 7-10 days, but most of the time he doesn't really care about the rat.

    So is it realistic that he's having a winter fast at this age? Should I be concerned about this amount of weight loss, or is it considered normal? (He did pass some urates after I started measuring).
  • 12-19-2018, 04:31 PM
    Avsha531
    Re: Winter fast?
    Seems completely realistic and normal for now. Going through the exact same thing with my 1.5 year old BP (as well as with the older ones lol). Nothing to worry about as long as husbandry is correct and there isn't any drastic weight loss

    Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
  • 12-19-2018, 04:51 PM
    bnorb
    Thanks for your reassurance! Do you maybe have an estimated weight below which I should be concerned? (Of course I hope it won't come to that.)
  • 12-19-2018, 05:02 PM
    Avsha531
    Re: Winter fast?
    Since the current size is already on the lighter side for 1.5 year old BP I would say like at 520g, but definitely wait for someone more experienced than me to chime in here :)

    Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v4.2.1