ball phyton

Question
How long can a ball go without eating ? Mine is about 3to4 feet long.She(said the pet shop)was eating 2 mice about once a month I started feeding her 2 mice every 2 weeks she ate fine.Then I changed her to 2 young rats every 3 weeks she ate fine for awhile Now she has not eat in almost 2 months.She has had 2 good clean sheds and 2 more I guess you would call them just dry,flakey sheds.When I first got her I just had a heating pad that i would turn off and on.But I knew she needed light so I got her a light and when it got really cold I left her light on 24 7.I think maybe that may be part of the problem.I don't know that much about snakes but I do know she can not go much longer without eating.I got her in July.Anything you can tell me will help        THANK YOU

Answer
Hello Joyce,

The husbandry may be off a little bit.  
The best setup for a ball python is to have an undertank heater or heating pad on one end of the tank, along with a ceramic heat emitter or basking light on the same end as the heating pad to get a warm basking temperature of around 88-90 while maintaining a cooler end of around 78-82.
The humidity should be around 30-40% but no higher during the times he is not in a shedding phase.  When she is getting ready to shed, move the water dish to near the heating pad on the warm side to help increase humidity to around 80% which will help with shedding.
Has she gone to the bathroom lately?  
Adults normally eat every few weeks, a large rat, which should really all they need.  Ours is 4 feet & we feed him every 3 or so weeks, 1 large rat, & he does great on that.  
They can go quite awhile, actually, without eating.  However, we do need to make sure her temperatures & humidity are up to par to make sure she is not going to get ill.

Tracie