Feeding success's and frustrations...

[drew5337]

So I have two '07 female normals that I got back in September, Muffin and Bagel. When I got them Bagel was a little bigger, and a little more personable, while Muffin would spend most of her time attempting escape or hiding.

They both get handled fairly often, and are very well behaved, never striking at me. I fed them live mice from the store where I bought them, and at first Bagel was an excellent feeder. I always fed her in a separate rubbermaid container, and fed Muffin in the aquarium they live in (more on my husbandry mistakes in a moment).

Muffin was a somewhat more reluctant feeder, but never missed a meal on a 5 day schedule. Well, Bagel missed one meal due to being in shed, and then ate fine a couple of days later after finishing. About three weeks later she didn't feed again, and Muffin started going into shed, so I figured that Bagel was about to as well. Well, Bagel missed her meal, showed no hunting behavior at all, and didn't (and still hasn't) shed.

Muffin on the other hand has become a mice destroying beast, she ate her mouse AND Bagel's that day. She eats so well that I have since converted her to F/T, which she took on the first attempt, and then today she took her first F/T rat pup, on the third attempt. Bagel hasn't eaten in almost a month. She doesn't look bad, but she isn't growing either.

Now I admit fully that this is mostly my fault, in that they live together in a glass aquarium, and now that Muffin is noticably larger, I think that she is exercising dominance over Bagel and stressing her out. About a week ago I took Muffin out of the cage and put her in a separate container, thawed out a mouse and heated it up and put it in the cage about 1 am, with all the lights out, and Bagel displayed her first interest in food in forever, she sniffed it, nosed it, and started mouthing it, but then stopped. Man I was disappointed.

After reading bp-net a bunch, I have invested in a good thermostat, flexwatt, and some tubs, and will have them in a proper rack very soon, in fact my flexwatt and helix arrived while I was typing this post. I think Bagel will be ok once she is in her own little house. And I'm thrilled that Muffin is off live mice and on F/T rats. Wish me luck everyone, once I get this problem solved I've got to convert two more new ones off live ASF's and onto F/T rats as well! Sheesh, I should get a dog, less work

[drew5337]

SHE ATE!! After being in her tub for a couple of days, I put a small F/T mouse in front of the hide on the warm side, and came back a little while later and its gone! Go Bagel! I'm stoked, hopefully she'll start putting some weight on and catch up to Mufffin. So should I offer food again in a few days, or wait a whole week? Muffin will eat every 3 or 4 days unless she is about to poop or shed, so I feed her pretty often, and she is putting on size really well. What kind of schedule should I put my newly not non-eating baby on?

[dr del]

Hi,

Congrats on the good feeding.

I would stick to the normal 5-7 day schedule with an appropriately sized prey. I know its tempting to feed as often as they will eat but a healthy feeding regime will pay off in long term health and lifespan I suspect.


dr del

[drew5337]

Well, since getting them each into their own tub my picky girl Bagel is eating extremely well, she has had 4 or 5 mice, and had a great one-piece-shed, and is doing great. Muffin is still her bad-ass rodent destructing self, now eating rat pups with extreme prejudice. Separate housing in tubs=much more win.