Starting Fresh

The feeding schedule for Sumi got changed due to scheduling yesterday. Didn't have a chance to run out and get her meal, let alone get home till a reasonable hour. Until I get some clutches going I don't plan on stock piling on F/T prey items since they do have a shelf life. I ended up going out this morning to get something for Sumi, but my initial stop didn't have the right size. Long story short, I ended up having to stop by PetSmart and saw they carried frozen ranges of rats. I had heard they only carried mixed sizes of mice, never rats. Since they didn't have individual small rats I ended up getting the box of two. I get home, started to defrost them and noticed both of the little buggers sitting out as I was pulling the box out the bag and caved. Defrosted them both. I get Kei out to handle him a bit. I've noticed he's started to puff and his more. Not sure why. Once he's out of his tub, he's 100% chill. I pop him back after about a half hour of him getting overly comfortable, and check on Sumi. Not sure why, but she's always on the prowl a couple days after eating. She shot out of her tub as soon as the top was off. She smelt my hands a bit, to which I was hoping didn't smell like her dinner I pulled out a bit ago, and moved about while I was watching a movie. I check the rats, they are thawed and get some warm water out to make sure they are 100% ice free and to get them up to temp. I pull Kei out to place in the feeding tub, to which he got all hissy about and decided to ball up. As soon as the top came off again with the prey item hanging from forceps, his tongue flew out of the gap of his "ball" and his head proceeded out. Two more flicks, then he snagged his dinner. I'm really stoked on how well he eats. The smaller of the two rats I saved for Sumi. I did the same as last time and fed her in her tub. She was freaked a bit, but if I slowly followed her with the prey item she turned around and sniffed it. I nudged her side with it and then she decided to make the move. Both of them happily downed their meals. I'm glad I got her from not eating, to eating mice, and with no scenting or force feeding got her to take a small rat. Now I can go get small rats for both of them and just feel the packages for a "smaller" small and a "medium/larger" small. Soon Kei's going to have to be on mediums.

I decided to bump Sumi up and attempt a small rat cause I noticed her weight had declined again. Not like before where she went from 172g to 166g. Yeah only a loss of 6g's, but I see a loss as a loss. Plus, Kei's weight at the beginning of the month (10/1) was 406g and he weighed in today at 460g pre meal.

Now I'm just on the hunt for a YB Enchi female to pair off Kei with. Preferably if I can find one in the area. If anyone see's/knows anyone looking to sell a 3-6 month old YB Enchi female in the DMV area either let me know or point them my way!

First let me start off with this:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tihsho

I decided to bump Sumi up and attempt a small rat cause I noticed her weight had declined again. Not like before where she went from 172g to 146g. Yeah only a loss of 6g's, but I see a loss as a loss. Plus, Kei's weight at the beginning of the month (10/1) was 406g and he weighed in today at 460g pre meal.

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I saw I had a typo on my last post and figured I needed to correct it for documents sake. Sumi's weight went down to 166 grams that week, that was the confusion.

So it's another feeding day. What does that mean? Weigh in time while prey items thaw! Came home to found a steamer Sumi had got me. I've noticed their feces is getting pretty rank. Not sure why it was not so bad their first few poops, but Kei's yesterday was horrid in smell though it was solid (even had a tail on his poop...) Might have been that I gave them soaks a day before they pooped in warm water. Kei hated the tub, so I decided to try the sink. He freaked for a bit, but he seemed to figure out what was going on and he soaked and moved around in the water adjusting his head on the lip of the sink.

http://i.imgur.com/YEFYgd5.jpg

After getting him out it was the day to clean the bathroom anyways.

So back to the topic at hand. Weigh ins! Kei is now up to 478g (gain of 18 since last sat) and Sumi is up to 191g (gain of 25 since last week!) So it seems like it was the right move to bump her up to the small rat. I felt around in bags again at the store and got a smaller small for her and a larger small for Kei. I'm going to bump Kei up next week to mediums. Does this seem about right for his weight? Plus, he's gained some length and girth so I figure he's due for a meal upgrade. Also, I've noticed per the weight chart I'm keeping up that his weight gain has been going down. I'll keep everyone posted on how feeding goes.