I am so happy. Cleo just took her first mouse from me. It was tough going but we got there.
When I tried 2 days ago she was outside her hide and basically turned away from the mouse and headed in the other direction and I gave up. This time I decided to be a bit more persistent. It was a trial and error mess but she took the mouse eventually.
She was in her hide and I warmed the mouse up and dangled it around in front of the entrance but there was nothing. Then I foolishly took her hide off and tried to tease her with the mouse, sometimes even rubbing her body (I read this on an old post in this forum somewhere) but she balled up and hid her head. I was losing hope and put her hide back over her still all balled up.
I hit the mouse again with the hairdryer and tried jiggling it again but nothing. Then my wife, who for someone that wouldn't look at a picture of Cleo a few days ago was showing quite a bit of interest in the feeding attempt, suggested I just leave the mouse there for a while. So I just popped him down with his head just inside the hide and left him there for a few minutes. When I came back I could just see Cleo's head a couple of centimeters from the mouse and so gently picked up the tail and moved him back and she struck, and missed. But now I had her attention and I just teased the mouse's head inside the hide a little more and she struck again and wrapped it up (it is quite a surprise when she strikes even though I was praying for it).
I tugged on the tail a little bit to make sure she had it properly and wasn't just striking it out of fear and she had a good grip. After a couple of minutes the mouse started slowly disappearing into the hide.
By now I had all the lights off to make sure nothing disturbed her and I couldn't see jack other than the mouse's tail slowly creeping into the hide.
I am pretty certain she ate it but am just going to wait until morning to check it out for sure.
I feel so relieved. There are so many posts about them not eating that it is easy to feel intimidated and over worried, especially at the beginning.
Sorry for the long waffle but I am just pleased she took a mouse.
Edit...
I just checked her before bed and she had moved over to her warm hide and there is no sign of a mouse in her cool hide...mouse 0 - Cleo 1!
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