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

[Lolo76]

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. 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:







Now compare that to how thin she was a few months ago...

[Soterios]

Congrats! Glad she's back on the wagon!

I need my spider girl to do the same.

[Lolo76]

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!

[snakesRkewl]

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

[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

[Lolo76]

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

Wow, and I thought Nerissa went a long time! 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.

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!