i got 2 new balls back in november of 09. a female super pastel and a male spider, both 08. they are both perfectly healthy, they just dont have the best eating habits. when i got them, i was told they were eating live rats. i dont like feeding live, especially live rats, so ive been stuck on getting them to eat f/t. the female is much better of the 2, id say since ive had them she'll eventually eat 75% of the time. but thats after trying all night with her striking more defensively. the male however has only eaten 25% of the times. now i havent paniced since hes close to breeding size and maybe hes just off feed. but the few times i have gotten him to eat, i had to put him in another smaller container with the f/t rat and the next morning it was gone. but that hasnt happened often. now i have tried all the methods, heating the prey up, braining it, different times of day, etc. im thinking the only way is to get some live rat fuzzies, try and get em to eat them, then once hes done with that offer him the f/t since he'll be in feeding mode. any other ideas?