So I've been looking around the forum before posting in hopes it'd ease some of my anxiety since getting my new girl almost two weeks ago. But I'm finding I'm still unsure about some stuff and I'd feel better just asking directly, especially since at this rate I feel I've bugged the breeder I bought from a enough and don't want to overload her with questions/thoughts that come from anxiety.

So details first - I got a perfectly healthy, recently fed (at the time of purchase) piebald female who is about 6 months. I don't have the exact weight atm, but she was just around 100g if not a bit less when I get her. She was fed and finished shedding a not long before I picked her up.

She is being kept in a 19L plastic tub I fitted with holes, and it's got two hides, plenty of foliage and a tree branch I cured in the oven before getting her, plus a water dish. The hides themselves are somewhat transparent, so I put cardboard along the outside of the enclosure to help her feel less exposed. I keep her enclosure in a spot I wouldn't call high traffic necessarily, but I also have been checking in on her a lot.

I'm using a heat mat and it's on a thermostat (though it's a pulse thermostat and I already bought a proportional one that should arrive tomorrow). I've been struggling with the current set up to keep temps consistent, feel like I've been battling to keep her warm spot set correctly, but have been managing to get it at the right temps more or less with tweaking but I also don't want to keep disturbing her before her first meal. Humidity has mostly been fine other than a couple times she splashed water everywhere and caused huge spikes. When this happened, I felt compelled to change out her paper towels and dry her stuff off because I was worried the temps weren't right to help mitigate possible bacteria build up

So here's my anxieties -

I tried feeding her Sunday night (she's on live feed) and she wouldn't even come out of her hide. Maybe I did it too early in the evening, so I'm going to try again tomorrow. She never really even see the mouse, only shifted in her hide a little bit. No idea if she even smelled it. And I'm going to do my best to just leave her alone completely all day today and tomorrow before trying to feed.

But I'm worried that because I've been fiddling with her environment so much between getting temps right, removing moisture, and even trying out a new hide last night that wasn't see through, that she's not going to eat.

Another two behaviors I want to point it - The first week or so she spent most of her time in the hides which is great. Now she's spending very little time in them, and will either hang out on top of them or just on the floor. She didn't take to the new hides i added yesterday so I'm trying one of each, the new hide on the warm side and the old hide on the cool side.

At night, but also yesterday in the afternoon, she spends her time exploring and scooting around, but also spends a fair amount of time pointing up to the ceiling and investigating. I don't think she's really pushing, but I do wonder if she's trying to get out because it's not comfy. She doesn't do this ALL the time though, mostly only at night and yesterday intermittently throughout the day.

This morning she's not in any hides and just hanging out sprawled on the floor and over some foliage.

I guess this is in part a vent post, and I hope it's okay that my first post is like this. I'd love any tips or reassurance if possible, and happy to provide any and all info about her set up and the last week and a half of keeping her. I love her very much, and only hope to give her the best life.