Can a hoard be too large?

[gtyatt5]

A beginner's two-bits...

Our Syrian nests in a tubed tunnel area, complete with bedding (a mix of Carefresh Ultra and regular toilet paper, with our scents mixed in) and hoards upon hoards of food, plus a lot of poop! Fortunately she pees only in litter sand.

Anyways, we started cleaning her cage regularly at 7~10 day intervals after the first week. At each clean we leave about a fifth of the old bedding and food hoard, but clean out most of the poop. So far, she's been okay with it. She just rebuilds her nest and piles up her hoard again.

Though we scatter-feed daily, she pretty much detects, finds and fills her cheeks and moves it all to her nest in mere minutes. We only hand-feed veggies and protein (hard-boiled eggs, steamed chicken) during playpen hour, and only in small quantities that she munches on the spot.

Through it all, her nest doesn't really smell much. All that bedding, food and poop mixed up together...sure smells a bit stale at times, but no foul odor.

The one problem is she's become ultra-picky with her food. Since we began mixing peeled sunflower and pumpkin seeds into her diet, she's become so lazy to the point she'll refuse unpeeled sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

But besides that, I don't think she overfeeds herself much. She just hoards a lot. And since it doesn't smell much, we're not thinking much of it. Honestly, wouldn't you feel much better if your fridge was filled with food, compared to it being empty?

Best.