Yeah you can stress the snake and yourself out if you try too often. If you want to try once a week or once every 7-10 days it would probably be best. I had a friend who's male didn't eat for 6 months, but still had urates and drank a ton of water. Then when the spring came along so did the appetite!!
If your male is older, he might have already gone into breeding mode and not even want to have anything to do with food.