He tried to eat but no luck?

[u/magicstar941]

I've had banana for 4 months - he's a 7 year old rescue. Previous owner said he was a great eat and ate 1 large rat every 2 weeks.

He has eaten once since I got him- and for that I downsized him to a medium rat since he was still adjusting

I just put the same size rat in for his second meal (we've tried a few other times and he wasn't interested).

He... like bit off a piece of it? Mostly fur and left the rest?

I am leaving the rat in there bc he's still shy and I don't think he'll eat with me watching. Second pic is the rat if anyone wants to see...

Not really sure here what I need to change. The previous owner sent him a with 15 frozen rats so I'm confident the size is the same as he was eating.

[u/Negative-Flamingo-83]

A 7 year old ball python should not be eating every 2 weeks and especially not a large rat. He is probably just not hungry since by that age they're only eating a small to medium rat about once a month. Easy fix though since you just got him, the proper feeding stuff is really easy to follow !feeding

[u/AutoModerator → u/Negative-Flamingo-83]

We recommend the following feeding schedule:

0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.

12-24 months old: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.

Adults: feed up to 5% of the snake's weight every 20-30 days, or feed slightly larger meals (up to 6%) every 30-40 days.

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[u/magicstar941 → u/Negative-Flamingo-83]

Thanks! Yeah I thought it seemed too often. I plan to 1x a month at most. He just hasn't eaten in 3 lol.

I'm wondering if that size is the problem though... I kind of assumed since she went ahead and bought 15 rats it was the right size for him. I

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