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JackAsp   Reptileruler1   JackAsp   Chippychop  
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 #1998644


JackAsp
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 Definitely not anorexic!

Chica produced eight eggs last week, and she’s not even a large collared. (It wasn’t my intention to breed her so young. neither I nor the breeder I got them from brumated the specimens in question, and the male is only a little October hatchling, so I thought it was safe to house them together.) The loss of stamina was sad but expected; the loss of body mass was EXTREMELY upsetting. She immediately took to shovelling down crickets, superworms, roaches, and Mazuri Bird of Prey Gel (similar in nutrition to mice, purchased for tube-feeding an arthritic python who couldn’t get solid prey items down any more) along with the occasional butterworm, bit of zuchini, or even piece of nightcrawler (not fed on sand, obviously, due to stickiness.)

On Sunday, I hit the expo and got three pinkies, since I was sure if she ate one the other collareds would want to be included as well. Nope. Chica took a flying leap to eat hers, but the other two didn’t want them at all. They wound up as skink food. Also, the same day she ate the pinkie, she ate two small hornworms (small for hornworms, but still about superworm-sized!) AND I have no idea how many crickets.

Today, she ate a few crickets and two more hornworms before I went to work, and when I got home tonight she was still begging. So I gave her one of those big Zoo Med canned grasshoppers, with the heavier-shelled parts cut through with a knife so it would be swallowable. She jumped up like a dolphin to take it from my hand! Now, she seems to have settled down comfortably, but, wow...

I’ve already gone full circle, from wondering how to get enough nutrients back into her to thinking just a cricket/ roach/grasshopper/ vegetable diet might be in order for a while before she gets rolled away by a bunch of oompa-loompas. If you looked at her right now, you would never guess that she’s just laid eggs... but you might think she was about to. I can’t imagine what her big sister Lupe’s going to want to eat after laying... Squirrels? Monkeys? Loud, annoying neighbor’s children?
05/04/09  08:34pm

 #1998732


Reptileruler1
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   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 1998644


 Definitely not anorexic!

glad to hear she laid well.
05/04/09  10:13pm

 #1998746


JackAsp
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   Message To: Reptileruler1   In reference to Message Id: 1998732


 Definitely not anorexic!

One egg was all liquidy inside; the other seven might be good. Really, at this point I was more worried about her though. As the eggs get closer to due-time I’ll stress about hatchling-health, but if they die right now they’re still just eggs, so it’s not as big a deal as how Chica is. I thought getting her back up to weight would take a lot longer, since they poop more often than any other reptile I’ve ever had, but I think she’s good. It’s not just that she looks full-bodied again; it’s also the way she’s running and jumping and thermo-regulating. Doesn’t hurt either that she was always the least picky eater out of the three of them.



05/04/09  10:43pm

 #2001007


Chippychop
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   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 1998746


 Definitely not anorexic!

thats so cool i can’t waite till I get a couple collards!!!!hope mine breed and reproduce ///in the mean time hope your eggs make it!!!!!!!!!!hope you have lots of babies!!!!CHIP!!
05/08/09  08:36pm


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