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OK, so Feeding Week #4 is not the greatest in terms of numbers. Moving the three non-feeders to screen cages appears to have had no effect so far. None of those three ate this week either. I'm still hoping that more time in the screen cages will have an effect next week. If they do not eat next week, I will attempt to get them feeding via other methods (different scenting, different foods, etc)
In addition, three of the previously feeding animals chose not to eat this week as well. Of these three, one of them was Escapee #4, who was recently moved from a screen cage, and could have been responding to the stress of the move. Another snake that skipped was one that I spooked taking a picture (more details below). As for the third, I'm not sure why that one did not eat, but it could be a number of details. I am not especially concerned about these three, as they have all eaten at least two meals previously. I know the adults can be a bit temperamental when it comes to feeding regularly (one of my adult females just decided she wasn't going to eat this week, either) and it doesn't seem to effect them too much, so as long as the youngsters pick up the feeding again next week, I'm sure it won't be an issue.
One good bit to report, is that there was a drastic increase in the number of animals who ate immediately. I would say more than 75% of the snakes that ate had already eaten their food within two hours, which is significantly more than previously. I take this as a good sign with regard to the snakes' development and security.
One other quick note, I managed to spot some constriction behavior for one of the snakes in the feeding process. I haven't had many opportunities to witness feeding directly (as I'm trying to avoid disturbing them) so this could be an isolated incident, or it could be the norm, but I thought I'd include a picture here. This snake was one of the three that refused its meal last night, though, so the picture process may have spooked it off of eating. You'd think I would learn, but if the last time is any indicator, this one should not have any trouble next week.
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