We got a new little guy a bit over two weeks ago now and have tried pretty much everything to get him to accept a rat pup. He's as different as night from other ball - super, incredibly shy whereas she is pretty much the bp equivalent of a head cheerleader, so we have been leaving him alone for the most part to settle in. Before he came to us he was primarily fed on mice, but he did accept a couple rats for his breeder.

So far we have tried: the zombie dancing rat pup, putting the rat in his hide with him and covering his tub with towels to black it out, leaving the dead pup with him overnight, and most disgustingly pithing the thing's brain. We get not a flicker of interest to any of that, and in the case of the zombie dance, he actually freaked out and balled right up.

I realise that two weeks isn't really very long in ball python terms for eating, but he's very small still (132g) and really looks a bit skinny.His temps are all correct, his humidity is fine, he has 2 tight hides an a super tight paper towel roll that he's in love with. Do you think that it's time to try him on mice/gerbils? I'm pretty adamant that I don't want to start him on live unless at an absolute last resort because the nearest place to get it is an hour and a half away. Any other feeding tricks to try while I'm at it?