New owner and site member, BP Dehydrated from store.

[Karokash]

HE ATE! *angelic trumpets blare*

So I didn't do the paper towel thing because I thought he might be getting some weird smells from it that put him off. However after the fridge thaw, I hooked up a hair dryer and dried/warmed it up on the top of his cage. He got all interested and squirmy and within a couple minutes of dangling, he struck it right out of the tongs! He actually was moving up like he smelled me so I had to raise the f/t which resulted in an almost aerial strike.

But long story short he now has a fully belly and is chilling. He probably wants more but i'm not going to push it so in 4 days I am going to feed again and will start trying to feed every 4-5 to get his weight up.

But I just want to say a huge thank you to all of the positive vibes you all have sent us. I know we aren't completely out of the woods yet but at least I know he isn't starving and now have a point of reference for his weight journal and his feeding journal.

[Spoons]

YES! I was WAITING for you to post! I was so confident he would eat, but there's that little shadow of doubt...

He's probably so satisfied and happy with his meal. I think from here on out he'll continue to improve. Wonderful news, I'm so happy to hear it!

[Karokash]

I am beaming!
So the plan is now to wait two days for him to digest. Then I'll weigh him again, then two or three days after that I'll try another feed. Basically just try to stick to that until I get his weight up. In the meantime I'm hoping he can go into another shed and get rid of all this left over.

But it thanks for keeping up with us. It's such a weight off my shoulders. So that's entry number 1 in two of his three journals.

[Karokash]

Your video helped me a lot. Once he gets more comfy eating I'll do a feed with the lights on and try to get a response video.

[Spoons]

I'm just going to throw out there what to maybe expect when you weigh next week. My ball is underweight himself (telltale very triangular body shape!) I weighed before the first feeding - 146 grams, about 6-7 months old estimated. I weighed the mouse at 21 grams, a hair over the 15% weight recommendation. When I weighed him the next week I was ecstatic to see that he weighed 154 grams!

....aaand then he pooped on feeding day, 5 days later, and I weighed him again. 145 grams. DOWN one from the week before!

I'm not too worried about it unless there's a trend, but don't panic if there's not an immediate weight gain. He's eating, and that's the big thing. My guy is currently on a 5 day schedule, except this week it's 7 because I'm leaving for Thanksgiving break. If he doesn't start gaining I'll eek it up to a 4 day schedule. Because you don't know what was going on before you got him it will take a few weeks of feedings to see a trend. If he hasn't pooped in a few weeks, for instance, when he DOES poop it might seem that he's dropped dramatically, even though he is up from what his "normal" poop free weight would be.

Just to give you an idea. Give it a couple of feedings to really see the trend.

[calmolly1]

Awesome job!!!


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[Karokash]

Oh right thank you, I would have totally forgotten about the poop issue. Yes right now I'm just more pleased he is eating. But thanks for the heads up that it might take awhile to see solid gain. 77 just seems way low. But I have no idea how old he is...

im im going to ask petsmart how old his clutch mates are.

[Spoons]

They may not know. Sometimes it's their own ignorance, and sometimes the breeders don't send a hatch date. But it can't hurt to ask! I was told mine was hatched in "late spring" so I decided to assume May is a good guess.

[200xth]

Oh right thank you, I would have totally forgotten about the poop issue. Yes right now I'm just more pleased he is eating. But thanks for the heads up that it might take awhile to see solid gain. 77 just seems way low. But I have no idea how old he is...

im im going to ask petsmart how old his clutch mates are.

You have him. You got his environment sorted and apparently he is eating. Forget Petsmart and forget how old he is. His age doesn't make any difference whatsoever at this point.

Just keep feeding him regularly and worry about what you're doing going forward. If he eats regularly he'll grow consistently.

[Reed12321]

Grats on the new deal.

And I just weighed Kaa for the first time since I got him and, although i'm sure it's still just me freaking out, he's only weighing in at 77g...I have no idea how old he actually is but that sounds extremely low to me.I'm attempting another feeding tonight and I'm praying to everything I know that he takes it; if he does i'll start feeding him every 5 days and record his weight change. Still working on this shed too but please someone tell me I don't have to be scared of this weight reading.

I apologize for the necessity of all these reassurances.

He does seem a little under if he's anything more than 1.5-2 months old. My albino was hatched on october 5th and she's around 90 grams. But girls are supposed to be bigger than boys, so maybe he's at a healthy weight. Akeda was hatched on August 24th and he's around 140 grams