Ball quit feeding question - need advice

[twisted poke]

So I have a four and a half year old ball. Have never had any issues with him eating up until a few months ago. I feed him live and he always ate when offered (every time). About 6 months ago he passed on a rat. I waited a week and he ate just fine. This happened one other time. (not consecutive) However, he has quit eating completely. It is coming up on three months now. I have offered rats every couple weeks but he won't eat. He goes nose to nose with them and then sort of retreats. Anyways, I read that you should try to offer something smaller. Tonight i bought a mouse and a small rat. (he was eating medium and large rats just fine before). Well this evening he ate the mouse as soon as i dropped it in his cage. I then dropped the small rat in the cage and he did not eat it. Looking for advice here. Should I be concerned? How should I proceed from this point forward? Thanks in advance for all replies.

[SRMD]

Well don't worry about them not eating for a while as long as they are not loosing weight dramatically.. My BP went about 10 months before eating.. I'm not sure if this is accurate advice but I'm sure if you want your BP on rats then you should stop offering mice.. It sounds like he refuses a rat so you just give him a mouse? When my BP went off feed I never once thought of trying him with a mouse I just offered different sizes rats every 2 weeks and one day he eventually took it.

How is your husbandry and set up? Maybe you could post a pic?

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[Kaorte]

Three months is not that bad. If he eats mice then feed him mice and try switching over to rats later. I would not be concerned. Typical ball python.

[twisted poke]

Sorry, should have made it more clear. He had already switched over and was eating rats before this started.

[Kaorte]

Which means he will likely eat rats again. If you don't want to feed him mice, then just hold out until he starts back on rats.

[twisted poke]

How is your husbandry and set up? Maybe you could post a pic?

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I feed him directly in his cage.

Keep him in a critter cage. 18 inch wide by 16 inch high by about 34 inch long. Two hides and temperatures are all good. Humidity is good as he has never had an issue with a shed. Pretty sure the setup is solid. Nothing has changed since he just quit eating. Will try to post a pic.

[SRMD]

I feed him directly in his cage.
temperatures are all good. Humidity is good as he has never had an issue with a shed. Pretty sure the setup is solid. Nothing has changed since he just quit eating.

Well if nothing has changed then do not worry just try offering weekly or every other week but like Karote said 3 months is that much of a big deal so don't panic, just keep an eye on his weight.

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[bcr229]

I feed him directly in his cage.

Keep him in a critter cage. 18 inch wide by 16 inch high by about 34 inch long. Two hides and temperatures are all good. Humidity is good as he has never had an issue with a shed. Pretty sure the setup is solid. Nothing has changed since he just quit eating. Will try to post a pic.

A lot of mature males stop eating over the winter. It's breeding season, they have other things on their minds at the moment. My largest normal male didn't eat at all between Halloween and Easter last season. This year same thing, he stopped eating in late October.