Hello all, new to this forum. I have a June 2011 pastel orange ghost male ball python. Had him since April. And a blood python on the way. Anyways, my little guy has decided to stop eating for the second time this winter. At the start of winter he went off food for about 5 weeks, I stopped handling, filled his tank with balls of paper, etc. all the little tricks. Then finally someone recommended that I start handling him again, and he ate. Few weeks of eating go by, and he refuses his meals again. But seems interested, I've stopped handling again, filled his tank again, and bumped his cool side temps from 80 to about 83. It's only been 3 weeks, but he is extremely small for his age. At one year old (when I first got him) he weight under 150g. Got him from a local breeder. Anyways, I've got him up to just under 500g on an empty stomach.
As I'm sure the first thing everyone would ask me, his temps are 90-93 day and 80-83 day, and at night his hot side drops to 85. Humidity is 50-60%. I have a misting system set up to must for 3seconds every 3 hours. He is on reptile carpet and paper towel, the paper towel is covered in cypress mulch. He is fed in his tank, on the side without the cypress mulch. He has a cold hide, hot hide, and a humid hide. He is in a 40gal PVC tank. He is 2.5feet, so the tank isn't to to big for him. I've been told to keep him in that tank since he has eatin in there multiple times, and that I move to a plastic tub could be counter productive. Plus I would have to rework all his temperatures and the humidity.

Since the start of winter he has stayed almost exclusively on his cold side, and no longer comes out at night (which he always did), he used to play in/on his magnatural hides and large branches.

Im assuming the hunger strikes are from the breeding season. He is a picky eater, but I can handle that, but I would like to hear any tips, suggestions or thought on his second hunger strike.

Now for my other question, out of curiosity, I popped him to see if there was any sperm plugs, and there was, there was, but they looked old, almost brown, and hard. I would imagine that would be uncomfortable. Should I be checking for them more often and removing them? I'm don't have any man parts myself, but I would imagine having something stuck in such a sensitive area would be painful.