Ball python hasn't eaten since adoption

Definitely try a Rat. I have snakes that will only eat rats and snakes that will only eat mice. I also had a snake that would only eat white mice, not black. They can be very particular.

I bought the rat crawler, and just now he struck at it. He dragged it into his hide and I'm not going to disturb him for a long time but it looks like our problem is solved.

Thank you everyone for the advice. Even though the problem here was that I was offering him mice, not rats, I'm still very thankful for all the input. It will help me prevent future problems.:)

I'm guessing your snake didn't eat because he was burned. I got a snake in the mail that arrived really beat up. He completely healed after a couple months and still didn't take his first meal for 6 months.

Most of my snakes prefer mice over rats, but if you can get them on rats it's much better because you can use bigger ones as they grow. The prey item should be between 5% and 10% of the weight of the snake, never much over 10%. I weigh all my snakes occasionally and put their weight above their tubs so I can weight the rat or mouse and figure out which snake should have it based on weights. Although some big snakes will only take adult mice.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I'm guessing your snake didn't eat because he was burned. I got a snake in the mail that arrived really beat up. He completely healed after a couple months and still didn't take his first meal for 6 months.

Most of my snakes prefer mice over rats, but if you can get them on rats it's much better because you can use bigger ones as they grow. The prey item should be between 5% and 10% of the weight of the snake, never much over 10%. I weigh all my snakes occasionally and put their weight above their tubs so I can weight the rat or mouse and figure out which snake should have it based on weights. Although some big snakes will only take adult mice.

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That's likely too. I'm unsure if he would have taken mice if the circumstances were different but I'm more comfortable feeding him a crawler rat that can't hurt him either way.
The next thing I want to do is get him on frozen. I'm planning on feeding him live a few more times to get him on track and then I'll try a frozen rat.