Quote Originally Posted by JASBALLS View Post
I always start them off with something really small after they lay. Some feed the next day. some a week later. Did you palp her after she finished laying? No more eggs in her right? And you did wash her and the bin real good to get the egg smell out?
Yep like John said.

One of our females ate within a week of laying, though a smaller than normal rat. Over the next few weeks feedings we just gradually moved her back up to her normal size and she's already almost back to her pre-breeding weight (her hatchlings are about a month old now).

The other female didn't want to eat at all for weeks after laying. I phoned Tim Bailey and he gave me exactly the advice John's just given you and it worked. After another wash up for the snake and another full strip and scrub of her enclosure we waited a day and offered her a lively rat pup. She snapped it right down and has progressed each week since - eating very well, gradually moving back up in prey size and starting to put the weight back on. She was on newspaper for breeding and laying and we also did put her back on her normal aspen bedding after the second go round of cleaning/bathing.

It's good advice, I'd listen to it (and I did!)