Need feeding advice

[Lilcricketdummy]

Hi all! I tend to stress out about my snake very quickly when her behavior changes even just slightly, so I figure I'd turn to the forum to hopefully get some advice and solace. I have a 4 year old female ball python. She has always been a healthy eater with consistent bowel movements and a regular eating schedule. She's only ever refused a meal a handful of times and I've fed her both live and f/t mice and rats. As of late, I felt the f/t medium rats were a little small because I haven't seen much of a bulge, so I went to a local reptile store to purchase frozen large rats. In the last week, I've tried to feed her twice and she's refused both rats, which is very unlike her.

Here's where I am with my concern:
1. Would she refuse the rat if she thought it was too big? I know snakes will throw it up if it's too large, but will they ever not even attempt it because of its size?
2. Could the rats smell funny to her? I've never purchased from this place before and have always fed her the Arctic brand from PetSmart. I've never noticed a smell with the Arctic brand before, but these rats from the new place smelled like a rat cage to me.

Additional information people might want to know:
1. She is not in shed; she shed last week.
2. Her behavior tells me she's hungry. I always feed from the same corner of the tank and she's spent the last few days staring at that corner in wait.
3. I only changed to this new store because PetSmart does not carry large rats from Arctic.
4. Nothing in her habitat has changed that would prompt her to not way.
5. She's not shy and has never been intimidated by me being there while she ate.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[the_rotten1]

Some snakes will refuse rats that are too big, some won't. My spider girl has never had a problem with large, or even xl rats, but my other adult girls won't touch anything over a medium. It's fine with me, since I don't usually go any bigger. The only time I offer larger than a medium is when I have dead/retired breeders to dispose of.

The smell could be an issue, but I would be more concerned about the size. I'd say that 90% of the time if a snake won't eat, offering a smaller meal will get them back on track. I recently bought a breeder Mojave female and her previous owner was feeding live mediums. So that was the first thing I tried, but she wouldn't take it. So I put her in a smaller tub with a hide, left her alone for a week, and offered a small live rat. She took that. Might try a medium next time. Her belly is a bit concave, so I want her to put on more weight.

[Lilcricketdummy]

Some snakes will refuse rats that are too big, some won't. My spider girl has never had a problem with large, or even xl rats, but my other adult girls won't touch anything over a medium. It's fine with me, since I don't usually go any bigger. The only time I offer larger than a medium is when I have dead/retired breeders to dispose of.

The smell could be an issue, but I would be more concerned about the size. I'd say that 90% of the time if a snake won't eat, offering a smaller meal will get them back on track. I recently bought a breeder Mojave female and her previous owner was feeding live mediums. So that was the first thing I tried, but she wouldn't take it. So I put her in a smaller tub with a hide, left her alone for a week, and offered a small live rat. She took that. Might try a medium next time. Her belly is a bit concave, so I want her to put on more weight.

Thanks for this. I'm relieved to hear it could just be a matter of size. I'll try a medium tomorrow and hopefully it'll get her back to eating. And I hope your girl starts to fill out a little

[Vipera Berus]

Some snakes are weird, I tend to feed multiple mice to my ball because he is so enthusiastic with them compared to rats. Rats he seems to be meh about but if I offer male mice he has almost bitten me multiple times just to get them sooner. Feed whatever works best. I'd rather risk an extremely violent feeding response and risking getting bitten with mice than have an almost 50% refusal rate of the rats. I suggest trying male and female rodents of different species if your snake is being difficult.

I swear that every time I offer a male mouse to start with my ball python bites me or tries to if I don't offer it without heating it, I've kept corn snakes and not seen such greediness from them despite them being known for being greedy. Fussy eaters some snakes might be but give them multiple of exactly what they think is delicious and watch them grow - I've turned a 774gram ball python into a 900 gram ball python (after a poop) in 2 weeks by feeding the favourite food of the snake.