My sister in law received a BP for her 18th birthday. She's now 28 so this gal is HUGE about 5 feet long and extremely fat . She's as docile as can be and is generally a great feeder. They feed her by putting a live adult rat in her cage and then dropping her into it. This is the one and only feeding method ever used. The problem is that she's now fasted the last 8 months and still won't eat. Never before has this snake fasted this long and they're worried about what to do.

Since this was a gift, everything was originally purchased by my brother with help from "the guy" at the pet store. They sent him home with a heat rock, a tall 3 foot long aquarium, and a big branch that literally takes up half the space in there. This snake has never even had a hide and his water bowl is absolutely tiny. It looks like something for a baby corn snake, seriously it's that small of a water bowl.

Anyways, I'd like to help them upgrade their husbandry but so far they don't take the knowledge I have very seriously. They think the tank size is fine, they don't want a bigger water bowl because she knocks it over too much, they don't think she needs a spot to hide, and they don't seem interested in checking temps / humidity as "the guy" told them not to worry about it.

And if you think about it, they sort of have a right to feel this way, since the snake has flourished under this care for over 10 years now.

How do I get this snake to feed? I've offered to help them but they seem sceptical about my knowledge gathered from these forums versus "the guy" in the pet store. They also don't have the internet or a lot of money to spend.