Cage aggression instead of eating...

[Serpent_Crowley]

I've been having trouble the past few months with Crowley, my 4yr old ball python. Since I got him over 2yrs ago, he was always a super chill snake, even during feeding. But the past few months, he has started becoming aggressive at me instead of eating. I feed f/t mice/rats, which has been his diet his entire life, but recently instead of slowly coming out and meandering his way to the rat, he has been shooting out of his hide strike-ready, and strikes at my hand/tongs, completely ignoring the rat. I'll leave his food in there and close the tank, and he'll just sit there strike-ready staring at the top of the tank before going back into his hide, completely ignoring the rat. Then, if I make any noise (e.g. from opening the tank again, or even just shifting the towel), he shoots out again, repeating the whole process. I'll leave him alone all night, only to find in the morning he's back in his hide and hasn't even touched the rat.

I do admit that his tank is a bit too cold (~70F), but it has been this way ever since I got him, and I've never been concerned over it since whenever I get one side to a warmer/more ideal temperature, he moves to the cold side. He has water, and two hides: a solid little cave (his preferred hide) on one side and a covered spot from a bunch of logs on the other, which has been the arrangement since I got him. He just shed last week, and although he has lost a bit of weight (this behavior started after his winter fast, so he has only eaten once or twice in several months), it isn't enough to cause concern, and he otherwise appears perfectly healthy.

He has started shooting out like this now whenever I open the tank, and I've had to start spritzing him with the spray bottle when I go in to spray down his tank to encourage him to go back into his hide and ignore me.

Any suggestions on what might be causing this and how to fix it to get my chill ball python back?