My pinstripe male stopped eating for 8 months. Drove me nuts and I tried everything I could think of. Then someone suggested to change his substrate. So, that being one of the things I didn't think of, I gave it a shot. I waited two weeks for him to used to the new substrate. I tried feeding him and nothing happened again so I waited two more weeks. Then about two days before my next try, he shed. Feeding came, I presented the rat not expecting anything, when suddenly WHAM he hit thing like a freight train. Scared the crap out of when he did it too. Hope he eats again next week too. Point being, it takes patience.