Thanks for the replies. I’ve double...and triple checked...temps and humidity, as that was my first thought as well. Ambient cage is 78-80 with the hot spot ranging 88-91 (currently set up with on/off Johnson Controls thermostat). Humidity is a little low - in the low 50’s directly under the hot spot since turning on the heat in the house. But I have large water bowls and provide humid hides when a shed is coming on. So far Artemis has shed with me once and it came off in one piece.

The only reason I’m considering giving in to live is she hasn’t eaten since I got her on 9/2/18. Not a terrible amount of time, but I’d be a lot happier if she ate. I don’t have a starting weight, but I recently purchased a scale to track her weight more precisely. Currently she is 1388 grams as of 10/29/18. I did consider fresh killed, but figure that she may be looking for movement since she was previously fed live. I’m currently heating the whole rat to be warm to human touch and that isn’t working. I’ve also tried the rat shuffle, but she’s more concerned with my big head in the door than anything I’m doing with the rat. I think I’ll take a shot with the rat pup when the next live shipment comes in next week and see how that goes. Leaving even a small adult rat unsupervised just worries me too much. I’ll report back.

Any additional ideas or comments are welcome. With the collective experience here, somebody may come up with something I haven’t thought of yet. Waiting it out is always an option, as they can go months without food, but I’m the worrying sort of parent. lol