Stubborn ball...won't eat

[venessa214]

My ball is just over 3 years old. This past winter, he went on a feeding strike for about 6 months. I live in a 100 year old house, and we had some issues with the furnace so we had a bit of trouble with regulating the house temp for a while. He finally ate in April, then skipped several weeks, and ate a couple times in June. The last time he ate was June 30. Up until November/December last year, he never refused a meal even in full shed-eyes blue and all. Now he wants nothing to do with a rat when he's even when he's just starting to show the pink belly stage of shedding. The first time he ate again, it was an ASF that the pet store got in with their regular shipment of rats. I know I don't want to get him hooked on those, and anyways, they are not easy to find around here. He just shed last night, so I tried to offer him a rat this morning-he seemed slightly interested till it got close to him then he jerked back from it. I watched from a distance for about 10 minutes, then took the rat out. (he has never touched f/t-I've tried). Should I get another ASF just to get him to eat something? His activity level is the same as it has always been; there are no signs of RI-no wheezing, bubbles or discharge.
FWIW, my cage is a shelf that we modified to house my BP on one level and my BRB on the other. I've not had any issue with my BRB eating, she still eats like a little pig.

Here's my cage:

Top level is my bp, bottom is my BRB. Heat cable has since been run differently, a second hide has been added for the ball, and a different water bowl put in. I know it looks plain compared the the BRB, but any time I have tried to put anything additional in there, he will not come out at all until the items are removed.

[Emilio]

In all honesty your bigger problem is avoiding the winter temp issue's you had this past winter. Ball python's eat when they need to and want to, don't go for anymore ASF's, if you wanna entice go for a jumbo mouse. You can always get mice if you need them.

[venessa214]

We got the furnace fixed, so hopefully that will not be an issue again. Size-wise, he will take a big medium rat-would he even consider a large mouse? I can definitely try it, I just don't want to be stuck with a mouse that I can't do anything with...lol. (BRB is still on large rat pups/fuzzies or small mice, so I wouldn't be able to feed it to her)

[VooDooDoc]

Is that a heat cable wrapped around that rock/branch looking thing? I really hope it is on a thermostat. Those things get very hot, I've measured 150 plus. Regardless I'm not sure an application like that will really do much good for a ball python. I like to use heat cable, but its under the cage like a giant UTH.

[venessa214]

Is that a heat cable wrapped around that rock/branch looking thing? I really hope it is on a thermostat. Those things get very hot, I've measured 150 plus. Regardless I'm not sure an application like that will really do much good for a ball python. I like to use heat cable, but its under the cage like a giant UTH.

Yes, it has since been re-run and is no longer on the branch, and it is set on a thermostat as well.

[Seth702]

Has he shown any signs of weight loss or negative effects from his strikes?