Tanya, I can see the animal losing it's hunting instinct on live prey maybe to some extent. Zoo raised big cats often won't run down prey. Zoo raised primates often won't forage for food because they are used to it being handed to them. I can't see a healthy snake, kept properly that has so completely lost it's instinct to eat anything...live, frozen/thawed, pre-killed to the point that it's never eaten without being forced to in it's whole life. I guess it can happen but I would have thought that it would be more likely in an adult captive snake then in what must have 2 years ago, been a very young or hatchling snake.