Starting Fresh

Thanks for the response.

Sumi's weight was there the day of the show. He weighed her in front of me so that's the baseline I had.

I'm considering feeding her in her enclosure later this week. I tried leaving the F/T prey item from last time with her over night, but no avail, she just left it. She's very active and comes out of her hide when I sit down and open Kei's hide or one of the other enclosures when I'm prepping it for feeding or taking them out. Ever since I've been exploded on twice I handle both of them over a spare tub in case I notice their vent open. Once I have her out she explores and rarely sits still. In her tub shes active a lot. I'm hoping this means shes searching for a meal.

Well back onto Kei. I thawed a small rat and waved it in front of him for less then a second and WHAM he nailed it. Constricted it for a minute, then swallowed his dinner and went on exploring till I popped him back in his tub. He's been a great feeder. My concern is that I have not seen any feces since his first rat or the adult mouse last week... He's urinated and left a sizeable urate, but no feces... I hope he doesn't get backed up. Once he sheds I plan on soaking him every other day so he can let it out.

I have some that go a week or two, and some that go 3, 4, or 5 weeks. The longer ones are usually very, very dense :-) .

He likely wouldn't be such an enthusiastic eater if he was backed up. I'm sure he'll be fine :) . Most of mine go right when they shed, but a couple wait until I clean their cage and go that night :) .

Great news! Went to get an adult mouse on the way home from work for Sumi on Friday. Got home and got a call from a family member asking if they wanted to go out to dinner, so I decided to let the mouse defrost next to her tub. Got home, got some warm water going and warmed up the room temperature prey item. She had been out and about so I figured she was attempting to hunt. As soon as I popped the tub top off she shot half her body out of the tub to start checking out what was going on. With another set of tongs, I pushed her back into the tub as I was not sure of her intent of exploring. I presented the warm prey item and she took a bit to sniff it and she struck it and took it. A few minutes later she downed it. So yeah, she's eating. Woo!

So yesterday was the weekly tub cleaning day, outside of spot cleaning/newspaper replacement if they urinated. I swap Kei's paper towels out and notice he's cleared up, but there is no shed in the tub. Oh well I'll just mist the enclosure and bring up the humidity from 60 to 80 for a day and just see how it goes... 15 minutes later I smell something and pop the top off of his tub. What do ya know, they do poop when you clean their cage! What a brat this guy is :) What else did I notice? In the corner was a shed that looked like a rolled off tube sock. He's back to being all bright and new again. Going to handle him more tonight and get him back on his routine so he's less head shy.

Weights right now from 9/30 (my end of the month weigh in) were Sumi @ 146g and Kei @ 386g (weighed pre feeding that day.) I weighed them yesterday, giving a buffer for my beginning of the month weigh ins, and the weights are as follows: Sumi @ 172g (back to original weight, but still holding a meal) and Kei @ 401g (post poop, shed, and only holding 2 previous meals.)

Great news about Sumi (and Haha about Kei :-P ).

Perfect news about their weights! It's great to record that stuff when they/you are getting stuff done right :-) .

I'm glad to hear! Thanks for the update.

Thanks! Just trying to find a female YB enchi in the Maryland area to get ready to breed later with Kei. A few days prior when he was in blue, I opened his tub to cover him with a moist paper towel and he hissed for the first time. It was a fairly intimidating noise and honestly he has a very aggressive fixed facial expression. Either way, he's a great fat little guy. Gonna feed him tomorrow to keep him fat and happy. I need to find another hide for him. He's out grown (in girth and length) two hides since I've had him. He must be frustrated with the current hide as he pushed it to the cold side and just sits over the hot side.

Since I remembered I had plans after work tonight I decided to go and get Kei's meal on the way home yesterday. Another small rat as a prey item went down like a charm. This time it was the strongest strike that he's ever had for a meal. That said, Sumi came out and started exploring as I had to feeding tub on top of hers. She had been pacing the tub since then till this morning. Looks like someone might be eager for another meal. Should I jump the gun and give her a meal before Friday? I'm not sure if I should bump her up to a small rat since it's bigger than her thickest part by a bit. I'd be willing to try, but I don't want her to get hurt from swallowing something that might be too big.

I'd stick to the "thickest part of her" rule and wouldn't feed bigger. She would probably be fine, but could injure herself if it's too big. It's up to you when you feed them. I try to keep to a schedule, but don't always stick to it.

I like keeping to a schedule, but if she's active cause she's hungry I don't want to see her searching for days. I might feed her twice a week this week as she's missed 2 meals so far.

For younger BPs, some use a 5 day schedule. I used to, but switched to a 7 day. I'm not sure I'd feed meals closer together than that (don't know if they would have time to properly digest the previous meal).

I was hesitant about giving Kei that mouse Sumi didn't eat, but he didn't even think about it when I offered it. Since it was less than half his normal meal size I didn't see too much of an issue.