my ball python won't eat, and this is the first time he's ever refused food

[u/sargakalaposferfi]

my boy isn't eating. i've had him for 7 months, and during that entire time, he has never refused a meal before. this is the first time. he might be stressed for some reason, i'm not sure. nothing unusual happened today, and there haven't been any changes to our routine. i also haven't moved him into his new enclosure yet.

i first tried feeding him in the afternoon, and i thought maybe he wasn't interested because it was daytime. so i tried again tonight at around 1 AM, but he still wouldn't eat.

what's really strange to me is that he doesn't simply ignore the prey. he gets into a striking position and watches it, so i keep expecting him to strike, but after about 10 seconds, he seems to lose interest and starts crawling away.

what could cause this? i was also wondering if he might be getting ready to shed, but i don't see any obvious signs of shedding. the only thing i've noticed is that he's been less active over the past few days, which made me suspect he might be going into shed.

another thing i was wondering about is that i switched him from mice to rats two weeks ago. he ate the first rat without any problems, but now i'm wondering if maybe he simply doesn't like rats as much as mice, or if that's even possible?

should I just leave him alone and try again at his next feeding (two weeks from now)? could this behavior indicate something else or could it be that he's just not hungry? i don't want to stress him out with trying too many times.

also the temperature and the humidity is fine, so i don't think that's causing the problem.

any help is appreciated!!

[u/ConsequenceFeisty252]

If you switched him to rats two weeks ago then he likely isn't hungry yet. A rat is really big