Some background info:
I'm new to bp keeping (coming up on a year now) and I have 2 bp one male (candino) and one female (fire pastel). They are in bio active 55L enclosures with live plants, multiple hides and climbing opportunities, yes I am aware of the controversy on tank size. Hot hides run between 88-90, humidity is 50-60%. I did add some moss to the hot sides recently and that bumped up the humidity a bit up to 75%. Until recently both ate regularly (7-10 days) with no hesitations. Female just shed all (all in one) and is about 300g now, she's been eating like a champ.

The issue:
The male last shed about a month ago (all in one w/ eye caps) but has refused to eat since. Last time I weighed him he was about 775g, but I think he lost some weight since then. I was told by a vet he was actually on the chonky side for his age (hatched 5/20) so I lengthened the time in between feedings and downgraded the size of f/t prey. Previously he was getting the medium rats from petsmart (the artic mice brand) which was smaller than the other sizes of feeders I've gotten at local pet stores, and I switched him over to the large mice (same brand) which he refused 2 weeks in a row. I went to a reptile expo and spoke to some of the feeders/breeders there and they suggested the smell of the mice vs rat could've been the issue so I switched back to rats ("pups" bought from the expo about 45-50g) still no success. He'll peek his head out of the hide, smell the rat and then hold himself a couple inches away, after about 5 mins or so goes back into his hide but continues to watch where I'm holding the prey. Tonight when I tried to feed, he did the smell and wait thing again. I left the rat in his tank to see if he would take it, but he just kept looking around the enclosure and eventually moved to the cold hide. It almost seems like he's scared of it? He's never had live nor do I want to switch over too it. The last couple of times he did eat he missed on the first and second strikes. As a candino I didn't think he could have the neurological problems like spider mixes but I'm not sure what the issue is. Ik that he might be at that age where they go on strike, but is there anything else I could be trying.