Feeding problem, need advice

I've had my corn snake for a few years and until 3 weeks ago, he had never once refused food or regurgitated it.

I've been feeding him live food for over a year now and there has never been any problem. Recently I had thought he was getting big enough to have outgrown adult mice so I started buying gerbils. About 3 weeks ago I brought home a gerbil like always and dropped it in his tank and Buddy (my corn) very uncharacteristically, instead of attacking it immediately like it usually does, he shied away from it and hid in his hide. I figured I'd just leave him alone with it, but the next day there was the gerbil acting like it owned the place. So I got rid of the gerbil and waited a week before trying to feed him again. This time again with a gerbil but a different one, but still alive. Again Buddy wouldn't even kill it, let alone eat it. He was still acting as if he was scared of it. So this one I took out and killed it and put it in a separate container and added Buddy in there similar to how I used to feed him. Draped a towel over the container so he had some privacy and left him alone for a couple of hours. Gerbil was still just sitting there. So I put Buddy back in his tank and waited yet another week.

Friday I came home with a live mouse, thinking that maybe he decided that gerbils were to big/aggressive for him. Same thing with the mouse, won't eat it live or dead, in his tank or in another container. I'm starting to get pretty worried about Buddy. It's now been about a month since he's eaten and I don't know what else to do.

Can anyone help me out?

Mabie it's to big. A.G. acted just like that when I first tried a small rat (f/t not live). Never leave a live pray item in the tank over night though, I've herd to many horror stories.

It seems to be normal for male snakes to "fast" around springtime, mating season coming up and all... I guess that depends on where you live, though, and if he's actually male! Three weeks isn't too long.

Have you seen this thread: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28342 ? I don't know if it mentions it there, but people've said it helps to make a little incision in the critter so your pal will smell the blood and know it's dinnertime. And other stuff. You can also use the forum's search function to find some good advice! It's all over the place here.

Good luck!

I ment Zabini, not A.G. I was thinking of A.G. when I tiped that because he was once attacked by a rat left in his cage over night (when he lived in st. louis and not here where I can watch him ). After that he, like yours, wouldn't eat. It took him more then a month to eat again but I wasn't watching him then so I don't realy know the details, sorry.