I have had him since he was 3 months old. every winter he goes on a hunger strike for 3-6 months. he is 4 years old and this time he has gone 9 months. He recently pooped and shedded and is acting normal but I am sick with worry. I have been attempting to feed him every 2 to 3 weeks but he doesn't show interest. He hasn't been "hunting" at night this entire 9 months. I have tried everything to get him to eat. His lights are on a day and night cycle, I feed at night, his cage does not have see-through sides and he is kept in a quiet area of the house. He has a humid tank with a hot and cold side of his tank, a hide on each side and fresh water every day in the middle of his tank big enough for him to soak in if he wants and I clean his tank regularly. I want to take him to a vet but I don't know any good ones near Puyallup WA, hwever, he doesn't seem to have a resperatory infection or any other ailment. He is my first ball python, so I know that I am a noob, but I have been doing tons of research. I just really need any help that I can get. Will a ball python starve themselves to death? There was no rat-attack or anything that caused this. I have one male brownish rat and he is getting close to getting too big to be used to feeding attempts. I have tried brown male mice and gerbils, live and f/t he WILL NOT eat anything that isn't alive, however. He is a normal so me night've been wild caught but when I got him from a "breeder" as a baby, after his week to settle in, he started eating normally right off of the bat and really, he has always been a good eater despite his winter hunger fasts. I also am in search of a rat breeder in the Puyallup WA area as mine is done breeding rats. Ryuk is 4 feet long I don't have a scale to tell y'all how many g he is. Please help!!