Python wont shed or eat

Question
Hey my ball python is almost 3 yrs old and is about 4 feet. ive been feeding her every two months but now she dosent want to eat anything. she also hasent shed for almost three months, ive tried everything to help with shed and rats. the last rat i gave ran around the tank and when it went up to her she curled away and went back into her rock. nothing seems to work. i would greatly appreciate anything you have to say that may help. thx

Answer
OK, personally I highly recommend to all my customers that they do not feed live prey to snakes as the snake may get injured by the prey item.  That being said it is not to late to convert the snake over to prekilled prey items.  The behavior you are seeing with the rat and snake may actually be due to the snake having a hard time killing the last rat before the one you recently tried to feed.  Also another technique which I advise is to put the snake in a separate/different enclosure for feeding and this could be a paper sack or bucket in order to feed it.  Leave the snake in the other enclosure overnight with the prekilled item and continue doing this as she may not eat it right away.  I have never had a snake go over a 9 months before accepting prekilled even after it has been fed live for so long.  Shedding will happen as I am sure you're already aware as the snake grows.  If she has not put on weight or humidity is not prevalent she won't shed or it may become patchy.  This is usually corrected through spraying the enclosure.  Also what are the temperatures of the basking spot and the ambient temperature at?  Answering these questions will allow me to help you further.  For and in depth look into Ball Pythons I would encourage you to visit http://reptileapartment.com/2010/05/14/royal-pythons-the-true-kings-of-the-vivar...

Also on the site of www.reptileapartment.com I have a live chat available which I can answer questions directly when I am online which is quite often if you have an instant messenger service available to you.  Hope this helps.

John F Taylor
www.reptileapartment.com