I currently have two ball pythons. My first one, Phil, has remained plenty active and feeds regularly, despite our cooler weather (I won't say "cold weather" since compared to Rhode Island, Tucson NEVER gets cold). Magellan, on the other hand, seems to be in a winter "sedentary" mode. He's only eaten once, and I rarely see him outside of his hide lately. However, since Magellan shows no sign of any health distress, I'm not worrying about him. I'm guessing when the spring temperatures start rising, he'll start showing more interest in exploring and eating.

One of the things I've read is that Ball Pythons can slip into one of two modes: Savannah or Jungle, based on their range in Africa. The BP's that live on the savannah tend to go into a winter hibernation mode, while the jungle residents tend to stay active year round because of the higher temperatures and year-round availability of food. Phil was bred here in Tucson, while Magellan was bred up in Flagstaff (a higher altitude and considerably lower temps). I'm guessing Phil is kind of "programmed" into the "jungle" mode, while Magellan is more into the "savannah" mode. Yours, also, might be in that seasonal mode, so simply keep an eye on him or her during your winter months, offer food from time to time, but don't get panicky yet.

One caveat: When feeding live food, ALWAYS keep a close eye on the situation. A live mouse and an inactive snake can spell serious injury potential for the snake. Mice and rats have been known to gnaw on "sleeping" snakes, and it doesn't take long with those rodent incisors to do a lot of damage to the skin and muscles on a ball python, especially if it's a young BP. This in one reason many of us always feed pre-killed prey.