22-year old southwestern gopher not eating

[Randie]

For most of her life, she has eaten thawed (previously frozen) mice and rats every 2 weeks. In recent years she refused rats, and I decreased the rodents in size over time, until lately she eats only adult mice. But since January she has refused all but 15 adult mice total. (10 in Jan, 3 in Feb, 2 in March, none in April).

In the last week, she was pretty active in her enclosure - out of her hide, moving around and scenting a lot. I thought she was hungry, put her into her feeding tub, but she showed no interest in the mouse. I have tried holding the (dead) prey and moving it, and leaving it with her in the feeding tub for a couple of hours.

Her enclosure temperature is ~ 68 F at night and ~77 F during the day. I mist it regularly. About 1.5 weeks ago she shed (incomplete, but I gave her a warm water bath that removed most of it)

Would love any thoughts, suggestions ... Thank you!

[thanhcongcraft]

The increased activity and scenting behavior you observed could indicate that she's in a feeding mode or searching for food, but it hasn't translated into accepting food. This behavior suggests she might be interested in eating but something is preventing her from taking the prey.