What is going on??

[broadude]

Ok first off here is my other thread about my pastel not going into his hides and some other stuff.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...d.php?t=107920
NOW he goes in his hides and w/e and seems to be a happy BP an all. HE STILL WON"T EAT!!! Feeding night was tonight. I have been told feed live feed live. So I bought the smallest mouse that they had at the store. Let the mouse sit on top of the enclosure for the scent to kick in and 30 min later here comes Naga see what's up tongue flicking and all. So I give it 15 more min to entice him. So I then open the top and grab the mouse by the tail and put it in front of him. He is scared silly! As soon as it got near him he coiled back and moved in the opposite direction. So I was like ok let try it again, gave the mouse a little flick on the head to claim it down so it dangled there and no dice. So I'm like alright I'll kill it and leave it in the enclosure for a while (10 min) and see what he does. He took ONE strike at it and missed and then after that no dice. Licked it, nosed it, ever thing. Nothing happened. So I'm annoyed cuz this is the SECOND refusal so I take him out and see if I put only him and the mouse in a tub will it work. NOPE! He CUDDLED with the damn thing. So now he is back in the enclosure with no food just chillin.
PS I did have the lights on when I was feeding but didn't know if that would make a difference.

NEED HELP!!!!

Here are some pics of comparison, maybe the mouse was to big but I thought he would have given it a try or something......


I know this will come up so here are the temps:
Ambient all around is about 81-83
Cool hide is 74-77
Hot hide is 90-94
Humidity is 50% (It is low I know)

Basically, most hatchlings will not eat unless they feel secure added: he was coming out to investigate and then you interrupted and killed the mouse?

I would start feeding him in his enclosure until he became more confident (if you aren't doing this). I would also give him an upside down clay flowerpot with the hole punched out of the top to give him greater security and an advantage over the prey as they will have a more difficult time jumping on him and scaring him. I wouldn't dangle anything in front of his face as he has shown he's not confident yet.

Some bps take all our bumbling with aplomb..and some are so timid..it's a good thing they are CB because they would probably never survive in the wild!