On March 9 (today is April 27) I posted that Bel had started to be seen between 11 and 1 Eastern Daylight time (12-1 standard). Over the last couple of weeks, I have have noticed that she come promptly at 11:30. She appears to just wake up at that time and is sluggish for a few minutes. She continues to refuse food but will play for half an hour and then shows me she does not want to play any more by going to the rocks (we have two signs for stopping interaction. If she goes to the substrate and removes her hands from the glass, I have to take my hands out of the tank but if she returns to the glass, we continue to play. If she leaves the glass and goes to the live rock, she is done playing for the night). I have been waiting an hour to feed her after play time but for the last two nights, I have offered food when she wants to stop playing and she has taken it immediately. When I try to offer food during play time, she wants nothing to do with it and would not take unless I left and returned to the tank. Offering the food right after playtime seems to be working very well as long as I don't offer it before she is ready.
She does very well with my straw contraption and the feeding stick and tonight I put the stick in the straws first and then offered the shrimp. Much better sequence. The picture is nothing new for the journal but it seems that these are the only ones I get of her since she leaves the front when I use a flash. Hopefully, Big Sister will post a couple of shots of their trip and the photos Kris took of Beldar during our living room campout.
I am experimenting with a new game at play time. She is not sure she likes it but does not leave and sulk when I try to get her to play. Basically, I am making a circle with my thumb and fingers and am trying to get her to swim mantle first through the hole. I am not sure if she gets the idea yet or if she is showing her cat personality but sometimes it appears she is not cooperating just because ... With some attempts, she will go to the bottom and give me the hands out of tank posture but then climbs back up to the play corner after I remove my hand. I play with her normally for a bit and try again and the reaction is mixed, sometimes she will swim through and other times she exits toward the glass. This has only been a two day experiment and I will continue to try it for the next week.