Please, please help me feed this ridiculously picky creature.

[smakemom]

I am tired, stressed, and so done with this overgrown noodle's nonexistent appetite. I like him a lot, he's a cool snake, but I'm at a total loss.
This guy has not willingly eaten for me for over 3 months. He was force fed by a veterinarian July 25th, and kept it down, but this didn't change his attitude about food.
Now this guy has ALWAYS given me trouble when it comes to eating, but normally I can get him to comply at least every few weeks. But now he won't even do that.

This is everything I have tried:
- I have tried f/t pinky rats. (He ate these as a hatchling.)
- I have tried f/t small rats. (He ate these a couple times for me.)
- I have tried f/t small mice. (He's terrified of the things.)
- I have tried live mice. (I don't have access to live rats.)
- I have tried hitting it with a blow dryer to make it hot. No dice.
- I have tried reheating it a few times and representing it. Rejected.
- I have tried giving it a long time to thaw in lukewarm water. No effect.
- I have tried a shorter amount of time in warm/hot water. No difference.
- I have changed his substrate, his environment, his heating systems (and waited long enough for him to adjust) to no avail.
- I took him to a vet, who force fed him, but there's nothing wrong with him otherwise. Totally healthy.
- I tried feeding him when the sun was up. AND after it had gone down. And in the middle of the night. NOTHING.
- I tried wiggling a f/t rat with tongs to simulate life. He is scared to death of tongs, for some reason. He will strike, but it's more of a bluff. He doesn't latch on. He has NEVER eaten for me when I used tongs. When he has eaten for me, I just laid the rat near him and he helped himself.
- For heaven's sake, my dad tied a damn thread to a rat and basically fished with it to try and simulate life since he's so scared of tongs, but this was a flop. He checked it out, but wiggled away ultimately.

And finally, last night, I stayed up until 4 in the damn morning watching and waiting for every chance he to poked his head out of his cave, offered, and removed and reintroduced several times over the course of several hours. I even waited for him to come out completely (which he seems to do most nights when left to his own devices, usually to try and harass his heat emitter, though it's out of reach) and while he did take a look at the rat many times and even got quite close, he ultimately said "Hm, no thanks. I choose hunger."

So, needless to say, I am at my wit's end.

I know the specs of my tank will be desired, so here they are: https://imgur.com/a/yXyd8Mv
He has a ceramic heat emitter that's on 24/7 and keeps his tank around 80-85º on the hot half of his tank.
He also has a basking lamp that's on during the day. To maintain optimal temperatures, it is toggled on and off by the hour with a timer. The heat emitter is regulated by a thermostat controller.
The cool side stays around 70-75º.
His humidity struggles a bit, but I can typically keep it above 50%. He has two water dishes to help fight the dryness issue, which works pretty well.
He has paper substrate, which makes for very easy cleaning and replacement, so I can keep urates and poop out of his domain. I do a full change now and then, usually when I do a decor clean. So, 1-2 times a month.

If I am doing something wrong or you think I could do it in a better way, TELL ME. I take ALL criticism. I have no pride concerning the subject, I know I'm no expert.
I just want to feed my snake, man. He's getting skinnier as time goes on, and it's stressing me out. I am now literally losing sleep on the subject.

For the love of god, please help me.
Here are past forum posts I've made when he gave me trouble back then, and know that I've tried their advice since then and haven't had success:
- https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...a-New-BP-Owner
- https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...d-Feeding-Help

Thank you.