Posted by:
markg
at Mon Feb 15 19:37:49 2010 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by markg ]
Normal for appetite to be greatly reduced during Winter, even if heat is on. Some will eat sporadically all the way through, some don't eat at all (most).
When you say 84 deg, do you mean one part of the cage or all of it?
Regarding breeding season activity - Males will go off feed for sure in early Spring and resume feeding later. Restless activity is normal for a sexually mature male. Same with the constricting of the food then ignoring it. Are you sure it is a "she"?
I've had rosies of both sexes do that with thawed mice (constrict, let go, ignore), then gobble up a fresh mouse. In all cases, the rosies were fat enough for them to be choosy. Hungry rosies are usually less picky. Not always but mostly by far.
The older they get, the less meals they need to stay plump. They are good at knowing what they need food-wise. Sometimes our feed schedules do not match up with their needs.
When they are eagerly feeding, feed them as much as they want (within reason of course, let them digest too). And when they don't want food, so be it. That is more realistic than expecting them to stay on some once a week schedule like clockwork. And when they aren't feeding, try to give them a cooler area in the cage, even if they rarely use it. ----- Mark
[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]
|