Any tips for getting females back on feeding after laying eggs?

[Somed00d]

I have a female that laid her eggs a month ago but she still hasn't eaten. She is not dying of hunger but she looks too thin for my liking. She was off food for quite some time before she ovulated so I am a bit worried about her. Does anyone have tips to get the girls back on food after laying her eggs? She was a strong feeder prior to breeding this season. I have tried live rats as well as F/T. to top it off she is going into shed now so I am expecting another week of not eating.

On a positive note a small girl that just produced 6 eggs for me ate almost instantly. She weighed in at 930g after laying and I am glad I don't have to worry about her.

[SPJ]

I have a female that laid her eggs a month ago but she still hasn't eaten. She is not dying of hunger but she looks too thin for my liking. She was off food for quite some time before she ovulated so I am a bit worried about her. Does anyone have tips to get the girls back on food after laying her eggs? She was a strong feeder prior to breeding this season. I have tried live rats as well as F/T. to top it off she is going into shed now so I am expecting another week of not eating.

On a positive note a small girl that just produced 6 eggs for me ate almost instantly. She weighed in at 930g after laying and I am glad I don't have to worry about her.

I'm dealing with one like that right now. She ate once since laying on 5/16. Driving me nuts. I'm just offering once a week and not bothering her. Eventually she will start eating normally again.
One question for you.
When you removed the eggs, did you completely clean the cage, replace the substrate and wash her off? If not, she may still think she has to brood her eggs.

[Somed00d]

I didn't wash her off. I changed the substrate and put her into a different tub. I will wash her off right away and hopefully the next feeding will go better. Any suggestions on what to wash her with? just soap/water?

Thanks!

Richard

[Bruce Whitehead]

You can wipe her down with chlorehexidine if you are using it to clean with already. But scrub the enclosure within an inch of godliness.

Also, the odd female will not start eating till her eggs hatch... not the most common, but it can happen.

Bruce

[Somed00d]

You can wipe her down with chlorehexidine if you are using it to clean with already. But scrub the enclosure within an inch of godliness.

I was thinking about using the chlorhexidine..

I put her into an extra tub so its as clean as can be.

Thanks for the suggestions guys

[NextWorldExotics]

Time and a Hide box...

Just leave her be, sometimes they just need a stress free break before they start feeding. I have had females go a few months before starting again. Not great when you want to breed them again the next year, but its what they need sometimes. Also a hide box helps a lot! The less stress the faster they will feed again

Hope this helps
Jon

[frankykeno]

I had one that wouldn't start up right away as the other females did and on the suggestion of Tim Bailey we re-did her post shed tidy up. We'd cleaned her and her tub after she layed but we did it again with all new substrate again, a wash in warm water and gentle soap, a her hide and water bowl scrubbed and rinsed. The next day she took a weanling rat (Tim suggested trying something smaller than her normal sized rat). She's eaten consistently thereafter and is now back up to her regular prey and gaining her weight back nicely.

Tim did mention to me that some females, no matter what you do, will refuse to eat but suddenly start up again around the time their clutch hatches out. It may be some sort of natural internal biological clock at work there, who knows.

[muddoc]

I had one that wouldn't start up right away as the other females did and on the suggestion of Tim Bailey we re-did her post shed tidy up. We'd cleaned her and her tub after she layed but we did it again with all new substrate again, a wash in warm water and gentle soap, a her hide and water bowl scrubbed and rinsed. The next day she took a weanling rat (Tim suggested trying something smaller than her normal sized rat). She's eaten consistently thereafter and is now back up to her regular prey and gaining her weight back nicely.

Tim did mention to me that some females, no matter what you do, will refuse to eat but suddenly start up again around the time their clutch hatches out. It may be some sort of natural internal biological clock at work there, who knows.

When I read the original post, I was thinking that I would relay the advice that I had given to Jo, but I guess she beat me to it. In my experience, a second bath normally gets them back on feed.

[frankykeno]

When I read the original post, I was thinking that I would relay the advice that I had given to Jo, but I guess she beat me to it. In my experience, a second bath normally gets them back on feed.

I type faster than you!

[muddoc]

I type faster than you!

That's not hard to accomplish. LOL. (2 finger bandit here)