I purchased a 900 gram, 2003 female pastel earlier this year thinking I could get her up to breeding size in time for this season. She turned out to be a binge eater, slamming 12 mice in one week, going off feed for three weeks, on feed for another couple weeks, then off feed for 5 MONTHS!
She's housed in the same rack system as my adult females, all of which are in the process of being cooled. I figured, if she didn't want to eat anyway, it might not hurt to slow down her metabolism. She's still around 1,000 grams.
Two weeks ago her hunger light finally went on. She took a jumbo mouse, followed a couple days later by a 50 gram rat, and a couple days after that she took a 100 gram rat! This was pretty cool, considering she had only eaten mice her entire life up to this point!
Last night I decided to introduce her to my Spider male just for the heck of it, figuring if nothing happened I'd be no worse off than before, but if fireworks flew I might get lucky with a clutch from her in 2006. My male spider wasted no time puttin' the moves on her. Thought I'd share a couple pics I took earlier today.
My hope is that she'll continue to eat for me so she'll have the body weight to produce a healthy clutch. I've had some snakes put on several hundred grams in a month once they put their mind to it. I don't expect many eggs from her (if I get a clutch at all), but all I'd need is one egg with a Bumble Bee in it and I'd be overjoyed.
Happy Holidays!
Python Joe
