I believe a 7 month old green could go around 5 or 6 months without feeding before things started to become problematic. This is providing of course that the green had been feeding well before, had no health issues, and had good body weight before the feeding stopped. I have seen two or three newborns over the last 10 years that did not take their first meal until almost 6 months of age. They were a little thin, but not in bad shape, and did well and grew normally after feeding initiated.

The issue with a young green under a year old going off feed after feeding for awhile is that their metabolism has kicked in and this makes a difference. Before a newborn green takes its first meal, it is only losing about a gram or two a week in metabolic weight loss. This is not that much considering an average birth weight of around 250 grams. It appears their metabolism is in a strong conservation mode and using stored reserves until their feeding response kicks in. Once they start feeding, the metabolism gears up and if they go off feed later, their weight loss will be more significant over a given time period than before their first feeding after birth. Greens go off feed occasionally for apparently no reason, but I have not experienced this myself with greens less than two years of age. These younger greens usually feed consistently with no interruption unless something occurs to throw them off. The key in your situation would be to determine what in its environment or with its health changed to cause this one to quit feeding.

Kelly

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