Hello everyone! I'm new and this is my first post. I'm sorry if it's in the wrong place.

Anyways, I've had my ball python (names Mikhail) for almost a month now. He is my first ball python and is a male albino. I feed him rat pups. I've had 2 successful feedings with him so far. Things have been going smoothly with him until I tried feeding him these past couple of days. He recently shed on the 21st-22nd. I think it was a pretty good shed. No old skin left on him and it came off in one piece. I didn't attempt to feed him during shed because I didn't want to risk wasting a rat pup. I noticed that night he was hungry because I saw him moving around his enclosure looking for food. So I quickly got a frozen rat pup and waited for it to thaw. I usually thaw for 2-3 hours at room temperature. I either warm it up by using a blow dryer on low or putting the rat pup in a plastic baggie and submerging it into warm water for around 3-4 minutes. By the time I was ready he had his head sticking out of his hide. I dangled the thawed rat in front of him and he seemed interested. He then went straight up to it, smelling it and then poke it with his head. After that he would just stare at it. I try doing the good ol' zombie dance and he still just stares at it. This goes on for about 40 minutes. He then later retreats back into his hide not interested in it. I then decided to just feed him the upcoming Sunday (the 24th).

So Sunday night arrives and I'm ready to feed Mikhail. It would be exactly 2 weeks since his last feeding on the 10th. He is sticking his head out of his hide again. I dangle the frozen rat pup in front of him and he comes out halfway. Then he does the same thing as last time again. Goes up close flicking his tongue smelling it and pokes it with his head. I noticed that the rat was losing heat so I slowly lifted it up and all of a sudden my tongs lose grip on the rat pup and it fell a good 2 inches with a slight thump. He flinches but still stares. I proceed to the zombie dance and he get's in an S shape. Now at this point I'm thinking "Yay it's going to happen soon!", since it has been 30-ish minutes of zombie dancing. He then slowly retracts back into his hide. I then decide to just poke the rat pups head in the hides entrance just to see how he will react and hopefully strike. I hear him hiss as soon as I put the head in the entrance. Pretty much gave up that night after that.

Now fast forward to about 2 and a half hours ago. I tried feeding again. This time he was out exploring looking for food. Same thing as the last 2 feedings. This time he slowly puts his body into his hide while still staring the thawed rat pup down. By now his head is sticking out of the hide. I keep doing the zombie dance for about 20 more minutes 2-3 inches in front of him. He continues to stare. I then decide to try braining the rat pup. Once I did that I noticed he seemed more interested. He then pokes the rat pup with his head and then turns around and goes back into his hide. At this point it has been around 45-50 minutes and I gave up.

I would also like to point out that his temperatures and humidity are where it should be. I also haven't been handling him since the 22nd to hopefully reduce stress if there is any.

Sorry if this is a long read. I tried to give as much detail to my predicament as I can. I will be heading to bed now because I'm literally losing a lot of sleep because I'm so stressed right now from this, looking for a new job and I'm exhausted. I will check back here in the morning when I wake up. Thanks a bunch for reading and hope to hear what any of you think.