picky eatter or sick?

[Vixxie]

I'm in need of some advice.
My one girl Abby seems to be a very picky eater and it seems to be getting worse.
I can only get her to eat fresh grass, and brocolli, or a little plain yogurt. I haven't seen her eat any of her lab pellets or other googies i put in (puffed wheat, puffed rice, unsalted seed/nut mix i buy)
I even treid some banana today and Abby wouldn't eat Misty had a hay day tho :?
I'm starting to worry she isn't getting enough of what she needs, if anyone has any suggestions that would be wonderful.

 

[Alicemcmallis]

Has she lost any weight recently? Anything else about her behaviour or condition that is unusual?

 

[SQ]

Try baby cereal mixed up with soy baby formula.
If you feed a good quality lab block, you may want to disolve some in boiling water, cool to make a mush and add a few drops of olive oil.

You may want to give her the hydration formula on here or pedilite from the drug store.

Are there any other symptoms ?
How hot is it where you are?
How long have you had her?

 

[mamarat]

How old is your girl?

 

[Vixxie]

it is starting to get warm were we are and she is about 3-4 months old.
She still wants to come out and play and sits on my shoulder.
doesn't seem like she is lossing weight but her sister is starting to look fatter than her.

 

[jorats]

I bet your sweetie is eating at night when you are not looking. She would be emaciated by now if that was all she was eating, not to mention malnutrition.

 

[user 78]

A couple years ago, my babies Mac and Penn scared the daylights out of me. They just refused to eat anything. They weren't interested in their lab blocks, only nibbled at their fresh foods. I went nuts, asking everyone what to do and how to fix it. They went about 2 days without eating much of anything, and I was soo terrified that something was wrong. I refilled their lab block bowl every morning, and for those 2 days not a one went missing.

They went to town and then just started eating their lab blocks again. To this day, I have no clue why they stopped eating like that.. But if your girl is acting totally fine otherwise, and is still drinking plenty of water, try not to worry too much. You can try cutting out all of the "goodies" that you're giving them, which will force her to eat lab blocks. It's much easier to keep track of blocks than it is fresh foods, since you can count those and know that the other rats didn't have a buffet.

No animal will willingly starve themselves. They'll eat when they're hungry. No matter how much it makes us pull on our hair, cry, cuss, or want to just throw our hands up in defeat.

 

[mamarat]

How's your little girl doing?

 

[Vixxie]

Well Abby is a tricky girl I've never seen her eat and found out why. I went to clean out her flease cube today and found that she had made herself a storage bin buy pulling the seams apart and hiding food in the cube wall.
My husband and I figure she sits in there when the house is asleep and pigs out. :giggle:
We did give her some baby cereal today and she lapped it up.
Misty her cage mate is a bit of a food hog so that could be why Abby felt she needed to hide her share.
Silly girl had me worryed :roll:

 

[Godmother]

Oh, yes, the blocks in the cube trick! Clever girl. I once found a lab block in the washer after doing some laundry... thought I'd got them all, but they cleverly hide them between the layers.

So glad your girl is OK!!!