Weak Feeding response

[Darwin]

Hi All,

Here I am, back again, complaining about my bp's eating habits. If anyone recalls any of my earlier posts, I have an adult male (about 7yrs) who decided to go on an excessive fast (13 months.) Good news is he's started eating a few mice here and there but I can't get him to accept rats anymore.

With much hassle, I've gotten him to eat about 4 adult mice in the last 3 weeks (so that's 4 mice in 14 months) - I realize this is not enough food but he just seems so disinterested in feeding now. I feed him FT and upon preparation he appears engaged but then as soon as I put it near him he just smells it a moment and turns his head in the other direction. He's coiled only one of the mice, the other 3 times, he just ate it at some point overnight when left inside a hide.

I'm getting really frustrated by this whole ordeal and I've started seriously considering trying feeding him live. He's never seen a live mouse before and, in my opinion, I think it would frighten him. Usually he shys away and wont come back near the FT if I even accidenty brush it against him during a feeding attempt.

I guess I'm just looking for some insight from someone whos dealt with such a long fast before...does it take some time for their feeding response to pick back up or to get a regular size appetite back? How long? It's been a month and he's not even eating adequate meals for a snake half his size.

Thanks!