I am new to this site and also new to ball pythons. I do have experience however with corn snakes and boas. Recently I acquired a healthy (1600 gram) 6 year old male ball from a man who had raised him from a hatchling. The snake has always had excellent care and was handled daily, often several times a day, by the man and his family. He is extremely gentle and docile and has what can only be described as a sweet disposition. The previous owner said he has always fed f/t rodents and had never given the snake live food. Never. His feeding schedule was one medium rat every 7-10 days. I got him over two weeks ago and he had not eaten for about 10 days before I brought him home. He is housed in a 40 gallon breeder tank with carefully regulated temp and humidity. Aspen substrate. One large water bowl. Two hides. The hide on the "hot" side is kept at 88-90 degrees. The hide on the opposite, "cool" side is around 80. Both hides are nice and snug and dark. Ambient temp stays in the low-mid 80s. Humidity around 60%. I do my best to give all my pets the best possible care and have tried to make a close to perfect environment for the ball. So why won't he eat? I've offered him freshly thawed rats numerous times and he ignores them. I've always fed my snakes in a separate "feeding box" and did that at first with this snake. No luck, so I tried feeding him in his cage. Still no luck. I read on line that some balls will only eat at night, so I've offered him fresh rats late at night when he is active. He ignores them. I even warmed the rats up in warm water to 100 degrees which I read is the perfect temp. Last night I did that and he carefully examined the rat and sniffed it all over, but didn't eat it. I dangled the rat from a pair of long forceps to make it look more tempting but that didn't help either. He did shed three days ago, and I realize some snakes wont eat when they are in shed, but the previous owner tells me this snake has never turned down a meal until now. Any suggestions? I've been handling him for about 30 minutes a day......perhaps I shouldn't do that? How long do you think I should wait between attempted feedings? I know that balls have been known to fast for months, but this snake has never done that. He hasn't eaten for about a month now and I'm worried. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Keith