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[Pythoninfinite]

You should never "starve" any animal in your care, especially not for 6 months over the summer season, even if they can easily cope with it. It won't have any effect on the "pinhead" even if that is the problem. Just reduce the number of meals, and try inducing it to eat larger food animals. This may have a beneficial effect on head size, by causing stretching of the ligamentary connections every time it eats.

Tying (or sewing) a mouse head to the front of the rat with cotton thread is a perfectly sensible and safe suggestion, as long as you don't leave metres of thread attached to the animals. Cotton used in this fashion will safely pass through the snake without complication, it can't wrap around the stomach if it is inside it! make sure the food item is suitably warm as well, thaw in hot water, and if you want to try it, you can rub the rat's nose with a mouse, or rub it into mouse guts.

Let us know how it all goes!

Jamie.