Hi!
If he's eating fresh-killed I wouldn't dare offer him anything else live. Even if he refuses to eat F/K or F/T for the next few months, ride it out & he'll come around.

In my experience with Burms males seem to be more likely to be picky eaters than females. And it's possible for him to outgrow this spell and become one of the best feeders you've ever seen.

I had a young male near the size/age as yours that wouldn't take anything but live. He went off feed during breeding season the following year (first time for him) and 5 months later showed interest in a F/K rat but wouldn't take it. Once a week I offered a F/K and he finally snatched it up after going 7 months without eating. No problem switching him over to F/T afterwards & he became one of my best eaters.

How are you thawing/heating frozen rats? It generally helps to heat the rats' body temperature to high 90's or a tad more. Sometimes I've had to prime the snake with a small F/K and have a nicely warmed F/T ready to put in their face as they're swallowing the first rat's tail. Just be careful not to intimidate the snake by continually shoving the rat in it's face. Anytime you're trying to get a snake to switch prey it's best to start out with smaller prey items.

I've had many snakes wrap but not eat prey. Both, fresh-killed & frozen-thawed. Sometimes they'll take them again if offered to them right after they release them. Sometimes I remove, reheat & re-offer it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, give the rat to another snake and try again a week later.

If the snake gets sick with RI or loses a lot of weight fast and it hasn't eaten in quite awhile, you may have to cave in to their desires in order to get some need nourishment. One year without eating and still in relatively decent health, though a bit thin, isn't unheard of.

One last suggestion that makes everyone think (or know) that I'm nuts: Try washing a thawed rat with warm water and a lil' bit of Ivory soap. Preferably the white bar soap. F/T rodents have a different odor than live or F/K. Also, sometimes in the euthanization process of frozen rodents the rodents will urinate on each other, creating an odor. I've had rats that my garbage disposal Burm wouldn't even look at - washed them with Ivory and she ate 'em all. Works on getting stubborn hatchlings to feed, too.

Best wishes!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American


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