BP Not eating, afraid of food?

[Eric Alan]

Hi, I am a new ball python owner and while I've already read up on everything I need to know to care for her, there's still some things I need help with immediately. I've talked to the reptile manager at the pet store where I bought her from and he told me what I should be doing to feed her. We've put her in a big enough container to feed (separate from her living container) and let her get adjusted to it and she's doing all the typical signs of feeding but she won't eat. She acts almost as if she's afraid of her food? I've had the reptile manager select a live rat that he would feed her to make sure it's not too big or too small for her and she still refuses to eat it. We left her in the container with the rat for about 20 minutes now and she followed the rat around the container visually for a bit and coiled up in preparation to strike but soon as the rat turned and smelled her nose in curiosity, that was it, she was done. She won't touch it anymore and she does her best to escape. The RM says he's fed her live, fresh killed, and frozen so she wouldn't develop a sort of preference when it comes to feeding. This is the second week she's done this (exact same way) and the second week we've had her and my boyfriend is starting to believe there is something wrong with her and is tempted to take her back to the pet store. I'm tempted to kill the rat and see if she has indeed developed a preference for feeding. Is there anything anyone would recommend I do for her? As I said before she's definitely hungry, she's not gravid, and it's not mating season just yet so I'm not sure what else is wrong with her. Would she still dance around her cage and do all the other hunger signs if she were fasting?

1. Try feeding her in her home enclosure. There is no reason to pull her out of her home, likely making her feel uncomfortable and stressed, in order to feed her.
2. Try a smaller rat than the guy at the store recommended.
3. How do you know she's hungry? When's the last time she ate? They can go for quite some time (many months) without eating - especially after moving to a new environment.
4. "Dancing around her cage" could also be a sign of stress. A comfortable ball python is pretty much a pet rock. I'd deep dive into your setup if I were you and make sure you've got it dialed in for her. Ask if you need help with this.
5. How big is she? I'm going to assume that she's adult size since you mentioned not being gravid and it not being mating season (which it actually is for most breeders).