Stage 3 (Dry Season)

[Pirarucu]

I believe that this is an extremely unnecessary and potentially risky undertaking, mainly because it accomplishes nothing. They whether the dry season because they have to, not because it is good for them. Case in point, Ghana's dry season is far shorter than countries such as senegal, and the Savs are much more common in Ghana, as they are not restricted to areas around water like the ones in Senegal. Moreover, changing the environment serves no purpose, even assuming withholding food has the benefits you suggested. The reason is that they whether the dry season by staying where it is still humid as much as possible, using their burrows. It does not change the environment they will keep themselves in, it just limits their use of the cage.
If you are going with the assumption that withholding food helps them repair their DNA (and I still don't see the links you said you would be posting) why not stop feeding while leaving their environment the same? Why unnecessarily subject them to harsh conditions that they try their utmost to avoid?

I'll be interested to see your results, but I'm not sure how you intend to determine whether you have been "successful" or not, without having a larger test group, the DNA testing, or having owned savs using conventional methods already to have a base line.