we have lift-off! my WC adult V. beccarii are both eating. i fed them last week, they ate but i couldn't be for sure who ate what (they're very shy and hide alot). i'm about 99% sure it was the male; he's much larger and more robust than the female. we moved over the weekend, so after i got them settled back into the enclosure, i tried again. they've both calmed down considerably, no longer trying to bite or run away from me as long as i move slowly. i took the female out and showed her the bowl and she became very agitated, but was too nervous to actually eat. we moved her to a spare tank, put in some branches and a heat lamp and put up blinders on the outside. five minutes later, we hear pinkies squealing to all the gods of mice for mercy. they recieved none; she ate six. i took the remaining two, and offered them on tongs to the male. he snatched them right up. today i offered food again, the male ate one, killed one and refused the rest; the female was not interested at all. i'm still very pleased...i was becoming very worried for her. she was getting very skinny.
as a side note; when do your tree monitors bed down? mine are usually hiding in the deep foliaage (sp) by the time i come home from work at 5:00PM, and it was difficult to get them to notice the food at first. my lights are still on when i come home, ambient 85f hotspot 130F, humidity 75% (no substrate, 8" of water pond filter). lots of branches, vine and artificial plants to hide. only real problem with tank was it's the temperary enclosure, and is not as tall as i think they need. my wife was home all day today, and said they were extremely active and are not hiding all day every day anymore, and are no longer as sensitive to having other activity around them.
