monitoring my dums

[nick654377]

So as i said in my other posts she was on f/t and was given a live before i picked her up and now she wants nothing to do with f/t now. So im taking the advice of others and not touching her till she eats twice. she ate on the 8th. i tried to feed her on the 16th. she seemed very interested but didnt want it. the mouse was 92 degress when i was dangling it infront of her so it had plenty of heat. i pulled it out and tried the chicken broth trick. still nothing. so i am going to wait till friday and try again.

now here is my question. since she is a dums she likes to burrow. i cannot see anything but her head. how should i go about monitoring her to make sure she isnt thinning out or getting dehyderated?

her hot end temp/hot spot is 92 during the day, at night it drops to 84. ambient temp is around 86. on her hot side other sides of the ground are anywhere from 86-90. her cool side is a constant 73. i am using repti bark and coconut husk for bedding and spraying once a day. humidity is between 40-50%.

[TeaNinja]

lol, you are wayyyyyy overthinking this, dude. i already told you, your snake isn't going to starve itself to death, especially with you ramming food in it's face all the time. if anything, you're either stressing her out so she won't eat or she just doesn't want to because of the dumb idea of feeding the live prey to a f/t. like i said, just keep trying until she gets hungry enough to eat whatever is in front of her. my male dum went off food for just over 6 MONTHS after i got him. just make sure the husbandry is good, leave her alone and try to feed her in a week or 2. when she's dug down like that, try bouncing the prey on the ground where she's dug under. they will feel it and strike usually being ambush hunters. (i tried to grab my female by the back when she was dug down one time and got chomped on my finger, now i use a hook to break the feeding response and pick her up)

also, i try to keep everything as close to they would encounter in the wild as possible (while acknowledging that they are indoor pets and not wild) so i would NEVER put chicken broth on prey or anything. that just seems ludicrous to me, but i'm sure others stand by it.

[nick654377]

i am waiting a week to introduce food to her again. guess i kinda miss the whole watching a snake eat thing since it has been a few years. and i do plan on buying a hook but i have a while to get that.

[TeaNinja]

i broke a plastic coat hanger in half and use that as a hook. bum innovation at its finest.

[nick654377]

nice! may have to try that because i just found an awsome deal on pvc tanks!!!! need to save up