Hello everyone. I am new at owning and caring for a snake. I got a young male albino ball python 2 weeks ago. He has eaten successfully for me twice, the first time it was f/t hopper mouse 4 days after bringing him home and feeding #2 was 7 days ago a f/t rat pup. The reptile store that I got him from said that they were feeding him live rat pups every 7 day and he was eating good. They could not tell me his exact age but I weighed him at 184 gms when I got him home. I weighed him a week later and he was up to 199gm. This past Wednesday he went through a complete shed. His belly turned slightly pink and his skin was dullish looking. His eyes since the are red only get cloudy not bluish. So the next night which was Thursday I thawed him out a frozen rat pup ( in a bag in warm water, blow dried and checked temp with IF gun to 100 degrees). He had zero interest so I refroze it and decided to try later. Side note-his first meal was in a separate feeding tub (before I read all the threads not to do this) and the second feeding was in his enclosure, he took about 30 minutes to eat it after leaving the room and turning off all the lights except for the IFR light on his cage. So last night I thought he probably was hungry so I warmed the rat pup on top of his cage then blow dried it in the room getting the rat smell in the air. I used tongs to do the zombie dance and zombie walk. Nothing, no interest. If fact he seemed a bit freaked out and moved to the back of the cage. I decided to leave it by his warm hide and left the room dark and quite. I kept on peeping in every 30 minutes to check. At one point he was in semi strike pose nose extended to the rat and tongue flicking at it. He was still positioned to the back of the cage. I finally went to bed and decided to leave it overnight. This morning when I checked he was in his warm hide and the rat was untouched. I removed the rat and threw it outside for some other hungry critter to eat. I hate wasting food! Should I try again in a few days or just wait until next week? His current weight was 211gm post shed but he hasn't pooped yet either. In fact I have only seen 1 urate pee that he did while shedding and have never "witnessed" him drinking or in his water bowl.

He lives in a Exoterra 24x18x18 which I have put foil and duct tape on 3 out of the mesh areas. I use 100% cypress mulch with some moss in hides and around the branch/log thing in the back.Temps have been 72-78 on the cold side, moved my IFR light on a dimmer over to keep it more even at 75. Hot side is at 88-91 with UTH on tstat on that side. Measured glass temp at 103 yesterday and turned down my tstat now its around 90-92 (reptitherm 500r-I do not like since its hard to maintain temp). Humidity has been challenging and have had to mist cage 2-3 times a day and also run humidifier in the room. Inside the cage it is anywhere from 30-50% and I managed to get it to 70% with heavy misting 3-5 times a day and running humidifier all day long. I live in California and it has been dry!!!

Have been trying not to handle, but my 7 year old daughter has been getting him out most days(except when he was shedding) and only holding him for around 5 minutes if that.

Any ideas or suggestions?? When should I attempt to feed again?