I have a male rescue that was rehabbed after being burnt from his chin to his vent.

When I got him it looked like someone had taken a jack knife and carved him end to end. Open sores, scars, horrible sheds, hadn't eaten in 8 months, etc. etc. etc.

He was being fed gerbils, and after limited attempts to get him on feed, I began giving him gerbils. I wanted to get him healed, kick start his metabolism and get some weight on him.

He is almost scar-free, has good sheds now, and is just a sweetheart. And he's up over 500g in weight, and he's a big boy. He is just under 2000g, and if he doesn't hit 3000g I'll be surprised.

I was maintenance feeding him, and offering alternate prey items that he would always refuse. Once I got his weight up and felt he was doing well I stopped the gerbil train.

He hasn't taken a meal in six months, but lately he's been lurking... so I haven't offered a meal in close to 3 weeks, and tossed an ASF today and he hit it immediately.

I only gave him two juvie ASFs, and will offer again in about 9 days. So here's hoping this will be enough to kickstart his metabolism and get him back on food with consistency.

As well, my last holdout WC female, Katherine, hasn't taken a meal since I got her. I got two at the same time and the other has been on feed for about 3 months now and is doing great.

But today Katherine took two juvie ASFs as well.

I'll do the same with her, give her a chance to digest and offer again in about 9 days.

I really hope she stays on feed. It is getting close to the season where WCs infamously go off of feed, so I hope I can get some weight on her in case she does decided to go off and not eat.

She has been in a separate rack, tons of aspen, and draped with a black cloth since I got her. Her other mate has been moved into a non-draped rack and has stayed on feed without any concerns.

Thanks for reading this WORDY monologue.

Bruce

Madga the day the gerbil train ended...



And Katherine the week I got her.