Seasonal fasting

My 18-month old male seems to be off food for the winter - he last ate on Dec 16th, so he hasn't been off long. He's been prowling his tank every night poking around the lid and digging up substrate, so I figured he was hungry again and offered a f/t rat - he crawled over and around it continuing to search his tank so I guess he's looking for ladies, not rats! I can't find much info about hormonal males outside of a breeding context - he's certainly not being bred anytime soon, but I assume this is going to be his habit every winter so I'm trying to get used to it. His disposition seems fine, he's not acting stressed and is fine when being handled, curious and calm as usual, so I'm still taking him out regularly. My question is how often to offer food when he's in this kind of mode - do I just give up for a month or try every 2 weeks or so just to see if he wants it?

I have a few animals that will fast over the winter but none have refused their first meal yet. It could be because it’s been warmer than usual. After their first refusal I’ll offer food again 2-3 weeks later. If they refuse a second time I start offering food every 4-6 weeks until spring.

If you’re offering weekly I’d go ahead and switch to a two week schedule. All my animals eat weekly and when they have 3 straight refusals I switch to bi weekly feedings


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