Posted by: dillybird at Thu Apr 5 11:22:02 2007

Have you been weighing her? I have an Eastern that I never could get to eat (yet) and I made the decision to start assist feeding her when she had lost 25% of her original weight. (She is now twice what she weighed when I got her last November)

If you _do_ get to that point, or just want to do it a couple times to hold her over till she starts eating on her own again- I've found that it's the easiest thing in the world. I just press a pink (I use multiple small prey items rather than one large because they go down easier) up against her nose, and she more often than not dislocates her lower jaw so it's all wobbly and loose and square-shaped, and I am easily able to just start the pink into her mouth, then she opens wider and I push it all the way in, and then hold her mouth closed over the middle of her head till the pink is safely down. I keep her out long enough to make sure she isn't going to regurge it back up, but she never has once it was down. I just keep stroking her gently toward her stomach.

Good luck getting yours feeding again- I bet if you had her going once, she will feed for you again, when she decides it's time. I might try the bait-and-switch with my girl if I can find a small toad, but she's _so_ afraid of everything, live prey really frightenes her.

Nanci

Thanks Nanci,I haven't been weighing her,which I should start doing. If I do force feed her I'll probably use a f/t pinky. That seems to be the least stressful method. If your good at it you can force feed them without them even knowing hardly,lol,kind of like a nurse thats good at drawing blood. I could also add a small bit of vitamins to the pink or an appetite stimulant. Thanks,Kevin

[ Show Entire Thread ]