I've read the usual tips since this is a common snake problem, but I wanted to describe my situation and see if anyone has specific advice. I know it hasn’t been long enough to worry and she is by no means underweight, but my other four snakes have all been easy to feed including one that switched to f/t without a hassle, so this is really my first frustrating challenge (besides the MBK baby that suddenly died very shortly after I got her... apparently I just have bad luck with kingsnakes).

I got a 4.5yo female california kingsnake in September, whose breeder fed live out of convenience. He was confident she would also take f/t and I wasn’t too concerned since she is a kingsnake, after all. Once she had settled in (and shed), I started offering f/t once a week. She ate once, on October 5th, but apparently it was a fluke because I’ve had trouble getting any feeding response out of her otherwise. I’ve been primarily drop feeding because she gets skittish if she sees me standing there - she struck off the tongs once, but then got spooked by me closing the lid of the tub and abandoned it. Scenting mice with freshly used bedding and leaving them overnight didn't work. I didn't try braining because I know from experience that I can't do it right. I figured it was my mistake for immediately trying to switch to f/t instead of getting her comfortable accepting live from me first, so I picked up a live mouse this weekend. But again no luck… she stuck her head out of the hide and approached the mouse, tongue flicking, but never struck and eventually stared at me for a minute before going back into her hide.

I’ve kept the tub basic; aspen substrate with a hide on each side and some simple wood and leaves in the middle. The cool side is 74 and the warm side is 87 with a maximum hotspot of 90. The sides except for the front are either blacked out or against a wall, and it’s in a closet that stays closed so there’s no traffic to disturb her. She’s quite alert when I catch her outside of her hides, she’s drinking water, and when she defecated after her one meal it seemed normal. I haven’t handled her at all since mid-September.

I’m perfectly happy to take care of the rejected mouse, so I suppose I should just keep offering that once every week or maybe every two weeks and hope she eventually gives in. I was planning for quarantine to be over on December 1st and move the new snakes into their permanent cages at that point, which are bigger than the quarantine tubs and have more cluttered decor and enrichment. Since she’s proven clean of mites and doesn’t have any other symptoms of illness by now, can I go ahead and put her in the permanent cage when the time’s up even if she hasn’t eaten, in case a better environment makes her more willing to eat (or because she may simply be going off food for the winter so I gotta wait it out)?