Sorry for posting another thread about a ball python with feeding issues! My three month old ball python, Onyx, has refused her past four feedings. All were f/t fuzzy rats, which she had eaten three of on previous occasions. Nothing has changed in her husbandry. I'm not too worried, she hasn't lost much weight (just seven-ish grams), but I'd like to get her back to eating as soon as I can.

Honestly, it's not the fact that she's not eating that's got me wondering, it's how she's not eating. She strikes and coils around her prey, gets the head in her mouth, but the next morning it'll still be in the cage. Sometimes, she'll come up to the rodent flicking her tongue and poking it with her nose and then reluctantly strike it, but most strikes are fairly enthusiastic, and none of them have been defensive.

I decided to watch her eat to see just what the heck she's doing, and I saw her do something that was just plain weird. She grabbed the prey item, but didn't coil around it (she did on previous occasions, however). She then proceeded to release it and bit it on various places of the body. When she grabbed the middle, she jerked back and immediately lost all interest. I'm really not sure why she did this. The mouse (tried a mouse to see if she'd take it) is definitely the right size for her, she should have no problems handling it. Any ideas on why she could've done something so weird? I'm pretty baffled.