Only eaten about 3 times in 5 months

[Bogertophis]

I haven’t had consistent luck with f/t mice. I think the last four I’ve offered have been failures. He seems even actually repulsed by them. Will move to the other side of the hide. I tried leaving one in there and he climbed to the top of the tank as if the mouse was unpleasant to be around.

I went and got two fuzzy/eyes closed mice today and he gobbled them up really quickly.

I wonder if I may be resigned to live mice, at least until I have him eating consistently again? That said, how much of a risk would it be to do adult mice? Or a juvenile?

Or if feeding 5 fuzzy mice per week is what I have to do to get the right amount of mass in him, should I just do that?

By your account, he's eaten so little that I'd be worried his strength & stamina won't be a match for an adult (live) mouse. Fuzzy mice are very small- the next size up is a "hopper" & if anything, that's what you should be trying (or if you wish, feed him 5 fuzzies a week for a couple weeks first, just to have him in better shape). Besides that, I'm not sure your snake is big enough or ready for that large of an increase in prey size- it won't help if he regurgitates it. In fact, you want to avoid that at all costs, so don't jump to an adult mouse yet.

I know some snakes are very hard to get on f/t rodents- fewer still refuse no matter what- BUT when you say he was "repulsed by them" I have to wonder if you're thawing them correctly so they aren't spoiled. It makes a huge difference. Please describe how you prepare the frozen mice? You wouldn't be the first one doing this wrong. Snakes have a good sense of smell- if it's rotten, they're not eating it. Also, it needs to be very warm, to mimic a live rodent.

Also, there are some tricks like "chain feeding" the f/t prey immediately following the swallowing of the live fuzzies. You have to have the f/t properly thawed, & be low key about it, & use tongs as subtly as possible to put the f/t mouse's nose into the snake's still-open mouth right before he finishes swallowing his live "appetizer". If you do this right, his teeth will catch on the f/t mouse & he'll keep swallowing the larger f/t prey. He's clearly hungry, if he's taking the fuzzies- it's good that he's eating, but it takes some skill & patience to get him on f/t. Sometimes a snake will learn (from "chain feeding") to just start accepting f/t prey after a few times, & that's the goal, for the snake to learn they're edible.