Food,Poop, Toys

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Wishing you GREY'T Blessings!
Maggie Wright

Moderator: merlin

Food,Poop, Toys

Postby Spider » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:58 am

Hi Maggie:

Well, spider and I have been getting acquainted. The work transition from vacation went well. Now I am dealing with food! If I could re-name her it would be Princes. Before her arrival, I read thoroughly on diets. I went to Whole Foods and spent a lot on organic this and that. I bought grain I hand never even heard of. I made meshes and was looking forward to her eating the leafy greens and her fruits on the kabob. This was not the case. Most everything is in the fridge or in the garbage. Now, I think I know what you are thinking as you read this. She may not know this is food, right. I cannot believe this. Spider puts almost anything in her mouth to explore. She'll chew on a dusty mirror in the living room, she;ll grab my shopping receipt and chew it to peaces. She took her first peanut as if it were the last peanut on earth. Ah, but put a small diced cubed carrot in from of her, and I get the "Princes" look. This is why I want to change her name. She turns away most emphatically! She knows its food. She just does not want to take it in, even to taste it. This is so with the pellets, any fruit, and most veggies. She is eating corn, pees (out side of the pod), and maybe some bean sprouts. She will not touch any meshes of any kind. I made a veggie-applause mesh and an oat meal mesh for mornings. She will eat yogurt with soy milk base (but its sweetened which is why I think is the draw). She will drink orange juice, and coconut juice. Again, all sweet. I tried converting her to all Harrison and did the orange juice spray over it and it did not work. I am now feeding her the mix from the breeder which I like as its diverse in its assortment of stuff although I know she is picking and choosing at that too. I played a game where if she held any pellet in her mouth, I;d give her a head rub and that seemed to work for that moment.

Since the pellet attempt, and over the past two-three days her poop is watery, not always but sometimes. More wetter than hard stuff. One or twice it been all liquid with little solid. Am I to worry?

It seems like her preferences are set? I am experiencing this with the hand toys too. I hand vision of her pushing a ball across the floor, tugging on ope, etc. This is far from the truth. We eat, and then she tries to get up on the sofa near the back rest to see what is in the mirror. No toy or temptation on my part will take her from this! Jingling balls, rolling wood toy cars, etc... Whats your take. She is totally engrossed by the environment not the activities I have to offer. John
Spider
 

Postby Maggie » Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:55 am

Spider, Miss Princess, has you going!

Your experience is pretty normal. It took me MONTHS before I figured how to get Merlin to eat well. We tried EVERYTHING. What works for one does not necessarily work for another. That's why I started the Helpful Hints section on this site. Please look it over and try the different strategies tried by others.

I think the key here to get her to eat is to become possessive about it. Make like you LOVE this particular veggie...get so excited. Finally, when she shows interest, let her hold it and then take it back. Say that's MINE! But don't give her something that has been in your mouth. They want our pens, our computers, and on.....so they will want our food.

You may also want to consider making a puree every few days. Easy: get some butternut squash; cut in half; place in casserole dish with tiny amount of water, skin up; bake at 350 degrees until soft; spoon out; cool and serve on spoon. But you can add other foods to the puree. You can puree sweet potato ....carrots...and so on.

I spoon fed every day for 3 years...but I think that's too much. Maybe every other or every few days and one or two spoons. Do this at night. It will make sure she is getting some food.

Spider Princess is in that weird period where she is learning to eat, which means she is not taking in much. They generally lose weight at that time, but you don't want her to lose too much. A gram scale may help. But the watery poop with no food is a sign that she's not getting a lot in her. There are times in mid day that happens.... but you do want her eating.

Use the same strategy for toys.

You ARE doing very well! Congrats!

GREY'T Blessings,
Maggie-
Maggie
 

Postby Maggie- » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:45 pm

An addition:

I use the herb Stevia to sweeten my food and my birds' food, when needed. It can be found in most health food stores and should be much healthier than any sugar.

We need to keep the sugar, salt, artificial and junk food out of their lives as much as possible. It's like....if you are not acclimated to it when you are young, you will not crave it so much when older. Wish my mom knew that years ago!
Maggie-
Maggie-
 


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