Well, I can give you some input on my end. I have about 12 females total and 3 of them have SERIOUSLY cut back on eating. One of them eats a mealworm every couple of days, another one eats a few crickets every couple of days and another one I have been feeding by hand for the past 2 months. Just today I put her on "slurry" and the good news is that she is not losing AS much weigh now, AND she LOVES the slurry, as opposed to the repti aid.
And a friend of mine has three females and he said that he is hand feeding ALL three of his... he said he's been doing this for the past month. So, yes it is "normal" (I say that VERY lightly).