I've been at this since July of last year; this near-yearling male ball python has been in my care since probably too young in my opinion (Four to six weeks old I was told). In the beginning he ate frozen/thawed rodents, lived in a 10 gallon tank, and would willingly take live rats as well. He ate nicely but then sharply went off food in the winter. I got sick of fighting temperature fluctuations and got him his own plastic tub that's roughly 16"x11"x6" or 19ish quarts. A similarly aged male mojave refused food the first two months I had it home, then began eating regularly. The problem-eater is 220 grams while the healthier mojave is 289 grams.

Their cages are literally identical; same hides, water dish, routine, temperatures, humidity, and substrate. Cool end is about 79-80 (cooler at night) and the warm end is 92-93F using an on/off style thermostat. Humidity varies between 45% and 65%, changing with the weather as our home is not especially well sealed. Their hides are snug to the snakes' sides and they each have a warm and a cool hide. I have not tried a humid hide. Their tubs are kept with my other snakes in a closet space (Better insulation) that has a curtain partially drawn to keep everyone more secure.

I'm not a stranger to finicky animals, but it's been a decade since I had little babies. My adult female is a perfectly happy eater with current husbandry. I have NOT yet tried frozen/thawed mice (That's coming in the mail), but I have tried: bumping the hot spot to 95F, dropping hot spot to 86F, paper towel substrate, cypress mulch substrate, aspen substrate, braining, heat lamp thawing, hot water thawing, extremely hot water enticing, chicken broth, bloodying the rat, shaking the prey item in a bag of rat/mouse/gerbil bedding, the "puppet dance" (45+m), overnight, overnight in a bag, in a dark room, in a separate container, I've tried cleaning the entire enclosure (Tub, hides, bowl, tossed bedding), I've tried scenting a cleaned cage with a live rat, food that's small/just right/a little big for his size...Nada. He will however eat live food. Every. Single. Time. Before the winter again he would eat frozen/thawed and just...stopped.

The behavior is bewildering but I don't have half the experience this community does. Typically my little problem eater soaks 3/4s of the time no matter what the humidity that day (Does not have parasites or mites), acts VERY eager to eat, and is...weirdly intensely interested in the rat, but won't actually open his mouth and take it. I'm talking tracking the rat closely, smelling it intensely, nudging it, coming out of the tub after the rat, "looking" once the scent is introduced...but no eating. He has been eating a live rat once every 4-6 weeks as I could obtain them from further afield. His next door neighbor the mojave however is a regular eater, although I've noticed that one soaks frequently as well. I have no idea if it's relevant but hey why not. The longest I've made the little bugger wait was about 8 weeks. Was not interested in striking. Gave him a live rat and he almost came out of the box to get it.

It is almost impossible where I live to get safe live rats; I stopped buying live nearby after I had three regurgitations (thank god separate snakes) from the only locally available place. (Saluda River Pet Food is a horrible place) None of my Big Cheese Rodents have produced this issue. The good news is that I'm moving to the Atlanta metro area by the end of July and I'm optimistic there will be plenty of places to buy healthy rats from. So I would VERY much prefer finding a way to get this undersized male ball python to eat frozen thawed, but I will have food options available in Atlanta to get him to a healthy weight.

So...ideas? There has got to be something obvious I'm missing here, but I could use some expert direction. He's a really sweet little snake and much bolder than my other ball pythons. Clear eyes, clean mouth... I can't fit a new glass cage until we move, but I can fit any size tub. And I'm ready to change up the husbandry. I just don't know where to go from here. :/