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...