While I'm used to snakes and their little idiosyncrasies, this one has me stumped. He routinely strikes, coils, and tries to eat but if left alone, there is a half chewed mouse/rat in the morning like clockwork. Here's the vital info:

Normal male, hatched September 15, 2013. Purchased October 12, 2013 having supposedly eaten twice. Weighed in at 53 g. and shed that same week.

Since then, has eaten twice on his own without any assistance. Reached a high weight of 106 and is currently sitting at 98 g.

I've tried both mice (pinks, fuzzies, hoppers, f/t and live) and rats (pups and fuzzies). 5, 7, and 10 day eating schedule. Left alone 2 weeks to see if he'd be hungry enough to fully figure things out. In his tub, out of his tub (same reaction of strike, coil, bite, but not eat).

The 2 successful feedings are where he was near the side of the tub and used it to basically push it in. His mouth action isn't the normal right side, left side, pull it in. He gets it in and then seems to wonder why it doesn't crawl right down. He also doesn't like to release his coil hold (which is very strong) as he bites what he can of the prey to the point he's even bitten himself. Eventually (generally 30-60 minutes) he will let it go, nose it, and look for new food. I've let him have a second one multiple times with the same failed result. Mouth has no swelling, redness, and looks perfectly healthy according to our vet and myself.

He's not a shy snake by any means and happily looks for food, strikes decently, and coils well enough to kill live prey. If I press the head of the prey item into his throat after he's done the strike coil for a bit, I can essentially assist feed him. He'll even take 2 that way most weeks. With corns, I always made sure they stayed at a decent weight if they had trouble learning to feed. Eventually they all got it with the longest baby going 4 months before getting it down. Zayn does seem to have neurological issues which I'm guessing may be part of the problem. He seemed fine when we got him if a bit smaller than I like (this is my stepdaughter's snake) but once home, I noticed he wobbles and seems to have coordination issues with slithering. He's never been nippy or even head shy from the day we got him which is great for her but between that, the movement, and the feeding problems, I wonder if it's a sign that something isn't quite right in the head with him.

At this point, if he can't begin eating on his own, I'm considering accepting the assist feeding just to allow him to start growing more properly. His sister, my other stepdaughter's snake, eats normally and is a little pig at 574 g. on 12/12/14.

Any and all ideas would be appreciated. Thank you.