my ball python wont eat

Question
ok so i have a ball python who i got from a friend around the begining of summer 2008, im not sure how old he is but i guess his age doesnt really matter here anyway because it was my fault i guess.

so we feed my snake one live rat once a month and recently we tried to feed him. we didnt have the money for a rat the month before so he hadnt eaten for two months. well i greatly misjudged his size and decided to get him a large rat instead of his regular medium size. well i didnt realize how big the large rats were and when i found out i gave it to him anyway thinking he could eat it.

it took a long and hard stuggle but he finally killed it but couldnt eat it.

the next day we got him a medium one to eat but now he wont eat it. i think he is scared of it because he shys away from it, but i know hes hungry, so how do i get him to eat it?

Answer
Hi Sara,

The prey should be equal to the mid body girth of your snake. You should also really be feeding him every seven days or at most every two weeks. This will ensure that he is getting the proper nutritional values he needs to grow and survive.

Your best bet is to keep offering him the prey item until he takes it. He will take it. There is nothing to worry about because snakes can go up to almost a year without eating and not have any ill affects.

Hope this helps,
Eric