Rat size

I own about 7 ball pythons.

The majority I produced myself. The problem amounts to this... The local pet stores can't get me the size rats I need to feed my adult ball pythons. My oldest female is fine with smaller prey. She'll also eat several prey back to back. But 2 of my snakes are refusing to eat because they seem to deem the prey is too small for them. They keep looking like they want to eat, come out when I turn on the light in strike mode, (which amounts to sticking out their heads in coiled position since about the only time I turn it on is to feed them and sometimes when I clean their cages (usually during the day). They are interested in the prey, but then quickly lose interest once they see the size of the prey. Last one, the female struck and then just left it there. Belly heat is fine and consistent with the other ball pythons... it's just I can't give them the prey size they want. They were fine with medium rats, but have no interest in the smaller ones. I thought if they got hungry enough they'd eat, but they are still refusing.

The local pet stores said they won't be able to get medium rats for a while due to supply issues. Any suggestions to try to get the ones that aren't eating eating again?

They don’t need medium rats, they will eat any size if they are hungry enough. They are probably just being picky due to not being very hungry.
Unless they are extremely thin, it’s really a non issue

Most males and even lots of females never need anything bigger than a small rat.
If you're feeding larger prey items you run a higher chance of running into food strikes.

They're definitely not refusing because a small rat isn't big enough. They'll eat if they're hungry.

My advice, offer small rats every 10 days or so to adults. That's all they need and anything bigger will lead to more food strikes in the future.

Old thread but, go ASF. ASF can't outgrow a BP. I raise them for our snakes, they grow sloooow.

If your rats get too big, freeze them an sell them. Or trade them to another rat breeder for younger ones.

Good luck!