Why is he such a wimp

[lizlopez]

My adult ball has been giving me some feeding issues. He fasted from 11/11 to 4/12 when he ate 2 med rats then fasted till June ate 1 more med rat and is fasting again. He was turning his nose up at f/t so since April he has been offered live. The last several feeding attempts have involved
1. adding rat
2. Snake comes out to get rat
3. Rat sniffs snake
4. If snake could talk he would say.... " Ack help it looked at me"
5. Snake runs away.

The 3 rats he ate all stood still in fear as he came up to look at them and smelled them for a good 2-3 min all the rats that move or respond to him its a no go.

Should I try large mice? Or any ideas on how to deal with a wimp?

[AK907]

Assuming your husbandry is spot on, I'll say that you might wanna try a smaller prey item or a mouse to at least get him established eating. Then work from there. This often gets our picky eaters back on feed for us. We have a couple that are like that and always have been no matter what we do. Drives ya nuts, doesn't it? It is all part of owning a ball python sometimes.

[Mike41793]

How big is he and how big are the rats? Weight wise i mean

[lizlopez]

He is about 4'8" and around 2300g a bit skinny looking to me but heavier than when I got him (only 1750g) and the rats are pretty std med rats around 120g.

When I got him he pounded med rats 1x/week and his living conditions have not changed
don't laugh but
Can they get depressed?

In early June I had 50 second graders visit my room where he lives and even though he had not eaten I had promised I would have him out and there were kids all,over this snake (I never let go of him but he got pet a lot) and the next day was the day to try and feed. I figured he would not eat due to the contact but ate
Ike a champ. Now owe the summer I go in every other day to check and change water but otherwise he is alone.....maybe I need to find 50 second graders

[bobmurffy]

Try and pre-kill the rat and then feed it to your snake. Sometimes this helps as the rodent doesnt run on and "upset" the snake.

Let me know if this helps!

[thedarkwolf25]

My male also does this, his environment doesn't change at all but sometimes he eats with no issues and others he seems almost afraid of the rat (f/t of course) and he will tend to ball up and protect his head as if the rat will hurt him. What gets me is that it seems totally random with him, one week he will eat then fast for 2-3 weeks then back on feed for 2 weeks then fast.

If you find any tricks to get him to take please share, he and the female are in shed though so I doubt they will eat tonight.