natural history, feeding brain storm

was just wondering for anyone with problem feeders, especialy WC. Since balls feed mostly at night in their natural habitats wouldn't it stand to reason that the feeding time temps would be less than the 93-95 degree temps most of us keep them at(warm end) in captivity. Since it seems as if temp changes play a major role in everything else in the ball life why not feeding time as well? I assume that if the ball goes into a rodent burrow at night and feeds then the temps are probably in the lower 80's at least in the burrows. The cooler night temps may be what helps trigger a feeding response. Just wondering because my two biggest balls all fed voraciously when I first got them but after settling in to the higher temps of my rack system they only feed once a month. I will be trying to lower their temps to the mid/lower 80's 4-5 hours before the next feeding time. Any comments good or bad are appreciated. Thanks

93-95 seems steep to me, we use 90ish for animals of all ages and they seem to have a good time. Most adults/sub adults go off feed for the winter months and then resume in late spring. We have tried eveything to keep them eating over winter, they just don't take kindly to our efforts.

I'd go with a constant 88-91 and see what happens.

I'm curious about that. My rack is set at 90 on the warm end and 80 on the cool end (but usually is 91-81 due to the warm room bringing it up a degree). Spoon eats like a pig but Sahara doesn't want anything to do with food. Mice, rats, gerbils, live or pre-killed, she wants none of it. She's a very cranky girl...puffing up, hissing, striking repeatedly...she hates everyone and everything.

Ralph, what kind of enclosure did you keep them in to begin with before moving them to the rack?? Sometimes just the stress of having been moved will throw a kink in their feeding system. You have an interesting thought though, all of mine feed fantastically but now that I think of it, I have a basking light for my bearded that is kept in the same room as my bp's and it goes off at night which may induce the night drop to which you are referring. However, I VERY RARELY feed at night, usually it is right in the middle of the day, so the night drop may have nothing to do with it.

Jen, I assume this is a WC girl you have trouble feeding and if so how long has she been in captivity. I had one I bought from a show in early '04 that wouldn't eat anything for several months then took a live mouse and wouldn't eat again for a couple of months, including mice. She finally took a gerbil and then another in a couple of weeks. Then she just started nailing the rats I offered her and she has been an eating maching since. She finally bred for me this year and produced 5 healthy eggs. But despite having been in captivity for over 2 years, she is still huffy and puffy, but doesn't strike nearly as often as she used to, so just give her time as long as she isn't losing a lot of weight.

She's not WC, but she was CH in '03 and imported in '05 by Ian G. I bought her from Ed Clark a few weeks ago. I don't mind the crankyness, I can handle getting tagged when changing her water or something like that...I worry more about the non-feeding. She only took African rats for Ed and even then only a couple. She doesn't seem to be losing much weight but she is starting to get squishy and not solid muscle like my others. I know she still drinks water, I see her occasionally with her mouth to the surface. I just really want to get her to eat...as a 3-year-old female she should be more than 1100 grams. I'm tempted to try the appetite stimulator I've heard about, but my fear is that it will make her even more hungry but yet she still won't take the rat...therefore causing her to suffer. I'm thinking her crabbyness is due to the fact that she's hungry.

I acquired them from petstores. I always buy adult females when I find them at local shops. The deals where just too good. $100 each and both over 2000 grams. I placed them in the 41 qt tubs (quarntine) when I got them home. One ate a medium rat the next day and went off feed for 1 month then ate 2 small rats 6 weeks ago and has refused since. The other ate like a pig for a month and has been off for 6 weeks as well. My other 4 balls pose no problem with eating, even thru winter. It hasn't been that long really I was just brain storming and will experiment with this. I almost wish I had other problem feeders to add to the experiment.

I understand on the pet store buys, but you really have to be careful sometimes. My best and biggest female came from a store for $120 as a WC that was close to 2500g. But good luck to both of you on getting them feeding regularly.

Dennis