2nd Failed Attempt

[mohawk]

I have a 2012 1.0 Albino Ball Python. He is about 4 1/2 months old . I have never weighed him, just been feeding using the prey = to his girth rule.
So far he has been an awesome eater, and has been taking live mice. So he has been growing rapidly, and is now taking extra large live mice.
Well the store was out of extra large mice, so I decided to try a small rat. I got one that was pretty close in size to the extra large mice. The guy at the store put some bedding from one of the mouse tubs into my container, to try and scent the rat. Well my snake didn't want anything to do with the rat. I ended up feeding him 2 regular adult mice, which he took quickly. So this week, they were out of the extra large mice again, and I tried a small rat, again scented with mouse bedding. He wouldn't give it a second look. So again, I went and got 2 regular adult mice, and he slammed them down like normal. I would really like to get him switched to rats. Besides scenting them with mouse bedding, are there any other tricks I could try, to get him on rats ?? Would it help to skip feeding him for a couple weeks, so he gets really hungry ?? He has been such an awesome eater on live mice !!
Any advice is appreciated !!!

[Don]

If you want him to grow well, you should move him over to rats. Try to drop down in size so that it is smaller than what you have been feeding. You could try a crawler, rather than a pup. I would refrain from giving him mice again unless his weight starts to drop. If he starts to lose weight, then you can do the mice. Good luck. Usually, it isn't that hard to get them to switch.