Another snake post

Don't let this little cute face fool you. He's about 7/8 months. Got him in August and he ate a very and small rat, no bigger than my thumb and although interest shown, absolutely nothing, ball pythons can go up to 18 months without eating and it's not normally a problem, however he's still very young and was starting to loose weight and look triangular, So the time came to try assist feed. This consists of holding the snake behind the head and using the rat/mouse to force his mouth open so he has no choice but to bite/hold in his mouth, and hopefully he will then do the rest naturally and eat it, (although can be stressful for the snake) he took the rat pup, and let go, and point blank refused to open his mouth again. Tried again tonight, but thought I would offer before the stress of assist feed. And Bam!! Within seconds he struck it and coiled. He has never shown any signs of wanting to strike anything before tonight. It was gone in seconds. Hopefully this will be the start of regular eating and he won't go another 3 months before eating again. Very happy right now.