3 - 4 Year Old Virgin Female Lesser On Hunger Strike?
This girl was a Craigslist purchase back in March from a breeder that was getting out of the hobby. I bought her and an adult Mojave as a pair. To the best of the seller's knowledge she was about 3 years old when I got her and he said she was a virgin. For the first couple of months I had her on a large f/t every 14 day feeding schedule and she never missed a meal. At some point, I switched her to a medium f/t every 7 day feeding schedule and she was still eating fine. Now, she has been on a hunger strike for about 2 1/2 months. She shows no interest in the rats whatsoever. She just runs and hides from it and hisses aggressively and sometimes she will bite it defensively if I keep persisting. On May 20th she weighed 1,800 grams and as of August 8th she only weighed 1,200 grams. She is in a 41 Qt. rack, 90 degrees on the hot side, 75 - 78 degrees on the cool side and the base humidity in my snake room has been running 50% - 53% all summer. I have read that when females become sexually mature they will go on a hunger strike. Do you guys think that could be what is going on? At times, I have witnessed her wrapping her water dish and she has been very active lately and seems to be hanging around the front of her tub like she's looking for something. I have tried palpating her for follicles periodically and I can't say for certain one way or the other if she has had follicles. I'm new to breeding... On one pass I could swear I feel follicles, but on the next pass I don't...
On August 8th I decided to go ahead and put the Male Mojave in with her. I left him in with her until August 13th (the day before feeding day). During the time they were in together I never witnessed any locks. Possibly courting at most... Sometimes I would see him laying on top of her and other times they would be laying at opposite ends of the tub. I never saw their tails near each other. Yesterday (the day after I removed him from her tub), I noticed she was intently staring up at the front of her tub at feeding time and I thought for sure she would eat, but all she did was keep taking flight and hissing and struck at the rat defensively a couple of times. The male also refused his first meal in months this time, too after being in with her. I plan on leaving the male out for 14 days then putting them on a 3 day in/14 days out breeding schedule. Personally, I really wanted her to get at least a couple of good feedings in before trying to breed her, but a few different breeders told me I should go ahead and put them together. A couple of people also said that sometimes breeding can get them eating again...
What do you guys think?
Reply With Quote