Just thought I'd update any of you that remember our W/C adult, Saoirse. I just happened to be checking records and noted that we are coming up to 2 years she's been with us (this September actually).

Saoirse, as you might remember, came in severely underweight for an adult at only 600 grams and with a history in captivity of parasites, a pet store, a few owners and then us. No one ever got her to eat as far as we were told. With a lot of help from forum members, Adam in particular, we got her to eat. She does however always winter fast and nothing we do seems to affect that. Come fall Saoirse stops eating, come spring she starts eating....so her weight gain has been slow but steady.

The really neat thing I wanted to share is her difference this spring. Saoirse has always been a very shy eater. She won't eat if the lights are on, if anyone's moving near her tub, etc. She usually eats then goes back to her hide immediately. This year it's like a whole new snake emerged from her winter rest LOL. We noticed right off after the fast she was a much more aggressive hunter, then last night she literally raced across her enclosure, snatched her rat right in front of Mike and ate is so fast I think it barely had stopped kicking! Normally she would immediately go hide...not last night. Right back into a feeding position and tracking us constantly. So we offered her another small rat and WHAMMO she went again for it in a manner very unlike our shy, quiet Saoirse!

What a pure pleasure it is to see this from her! We couldn't be more pleased that even if it took 2 years, our Saoirse is finally showing some really strong behaviours when it comes to feeding. She's also very much more relaxed for handling time. Normally she's not big on exploring but lately she's also far more confident in that as well, reaching and stretching to get places she normally would never try for.

Just had to share our happiness in this precious snake.