BP acting incredibly hungry

[maverickgtr]

She's actually gained weight it feels like. The vet did a fecal and it was all clear. They said she was perfectly healthy but to do the standard quarantine and if we were going to breed then wait at least a year for her to get bigger. She's actually been gaining weight lately. She always had the slightest bit of loose skin, but she'd never really take more mice or rats til just recently. Now, she doesn't have any loose skin at all and she feels heavier. I'll be getting scale soon I hope. I'll check walmart the next time I grab groceries which should be mid this week or next weekend.

[WingedWolfPsion]

My guess is, at age 3, she has reached sexual maturity, and her body is revving up for what would be her first breeding season. My breeder females all become ravenous at this time of year, and eat into autumn. At that point, some of the yearling and 2 year olds will go off feed for the winter, but most of the breeders continue feeding until they ovulate. You can pick up an inexpensive kitchen scale at Target for under $20, that will register up to 10 pounds, and can be switched to ounces or grams.

Go ahead and let her eat, particularly if she is under 1500 grams. Put her on a 5 day feeding schedule with food items as big around as the widest part of her body. You only need to back off if seems to actually be getting fat. The reason I recommend this, is that she may decide to go off feed for the winter. If she does, having a good store of extra weight to see her through until spring will be better for her than restricting her food intake now, and risking her becoming quite thin during that period.

[maverickgtr]

My guess is, at age 3, she has reached sexual maturity, and her body is revving up for what would be her first breeding season. My breeder females all become ravenous at this time of year, and eat into autumn. At that point, some of the yearling and 2 year olds will go off feed for the winter, but most of the breeders continue feeding until they ovulate. You can pick up an inexpensive kitchen scale at Target for under $20, that will register up to 10 pounds, and can be switched to ounces or grams.

Go ahead and let her eat, particularly if she is under 1500 grams. Put her on a 5 day feeding schedule with food items as big around as the widest part of her body. You only need to back off if seems to actually be getting fat. The reason I recommend this, is that she may decide to go off feed for the winter. If she does, having a good store of extra weight to see her through until spring will be better for her than restricting her food intake now, and risking her becoming quite thin during that period.

Thank you for your help! That was most informative! Last year she did go off feed for about a month, but she didn't eat more than usual before that so she did lose weight and I of course was worried sick. I will put her on a five day feeding schedule and the rats we just got from Big Cheese are the same size as the widest part of her, I checked last night when we had her out to see if she was ok.