I have a 120g, four-month ball that I've had about 5wks. She was taking F/T mice when I got her, but fuzzy rats were recommended. I tried those at first and she wouldn't take them so I went back to live mice. She took 2 of those, then a F/T mouse. No problem eating these things.


At that point I tried to reintroduce the F/T fuzzy rat again. Each time I also heated up a mouse for the smell. The first time it hadn't been quite 5 days so it was too soon (was going out of town), and shed was involved, and she didn't take. 3 days later it had been 1 week and tried again, no. Tried 3 days later and 4 days later. This past time I also tried a F/T mouse after she ignored the rat, but no take. To be fair we handled her a lot yesterday and had changed her cage some the day before. So it has been just over 2 weeks since she's eaten.


Questions:
1. How many weeks should I try before giving her live again? I've heard they can go weeks or months without eating. Of course at this age I doubt that's good.
2. Should I maybe try a fuzzy live rat to get her switched to rats? Or go from F/T mouse to F/T rat?
3. What's the neg. effect of presenting the food at 3-4 day intervals? (and why?) I know many say wait 1 full week, but... it's hard for me.
4. Does it get harder to switch them over the older they get? (ie if I don't do it now, would it be even harder at 8-10 months?)

Thanks!