Yes, I have known Ari for many years and spoke to him recently. He is the one who told me about Newsprint and doesn't see a problem with it. I have been using Newsprint since she was a yearling and think it's great. It a good substrate for an enclosure that is always exposed to moisture. For example, it dries very quickly, before another misting cycle begins. Up until this started she would move all around her cage no problem with Newsprint. I plan on sticking with Newsprint.
She has not been in this enclosure for 11 years! She was in two smaller enclosures before hand. She has been in this enclosure for 5-6 years. It's easy to furnish and clean small enclosures. Plus, everything is affordable with small enclosures. This is not the case with large enclosures. Remember my enclosure is always being exposed to moisture so I can only put certain materials inside. Things that are rot proof and non porous, like plastic. Otherwise, I will end up with a lot of bacteria/mold and have a different problem. My point is, I did look into having natural looking things custom made out of epoxy, but it was way too expensive. I simply thought being sterile is most important.
Yes, I agree her enclosure is pretty bare and I was thinking she might depressed/bored. I went out and got a plastic step stool last night, thanks for the idea! I will post a pic tonight. Anymore immediate, plastic enrichments?
However being bored/depressed doesn't cause weight loss. If fact sitting around doing nothing while eating larger meals should do the opposite. She should be gaining weight instead.
I tried feeding her slightly larger meals and all that did was cause her to become very impacted. She also was going into back to back sheds. She seems to be pooping regularly/normally now and want to keep it that way. Plus, I was told by a very experienced boelens keeper not to feed them jumbo rats/small rabbits. I posted a picture of her after eating a 300g chicken and she looks pretty uncomfortable. I will post some xrays showing how impacted she was along with her "enlarged heart" according to the vet. In case I didn't mention it, her last bloodwork came back with low white and red blood cell counts.
I will try feeding her larger items again, exactly what should I be feeding her? I feel like I have been asking this the whole time.
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