Two Part Post: Picky Eating/Cage Design

[morsecode970]

My python is a little over 1.5 years old. I've fed him every Tuesday for the last 6 weeks but he'll only eat every other week. The times that he HAS eaten he wasn't particulary enthusiastic about it. Other than around feeding time, his behavior doesn't seem unusual. I can't seem to find anything peculiar when I look at him.

I've had him for about a year and until now I haven't had a problem feeding him. I'm a little worried but I'm going to chalk it up to changing seasons, daylight, crazy random growing phase, etc for now unless he starts acting stressed or noticeably losing weight.

This week is finals week for school so, unfortunately, I'm way too busy to take any special amount of time out for Cory (Cory Worthington DeSnakey.) However, once I have some free time I'm going to make some big changes to his cage and post some pics of Cory and sketches for his new home.

Right now, he is in a 55 gal with one infrared lamp and an UTH that give him a warm hide that stays about 86 degrees Fahrenheit. The cold side of his tank is room temperature so about 68 but he has 2 hides between his warm one and the coldest corner.

Seeing as I am an architecture major, I'm planning on designing an envelope to surround his tank that:
-Insulates so the thermostat doesn't have to work so hard and the cold side will warm up a bit
-Adds another basking lamp to turn on during the day and off during the night to suit his diurnal nature because my room doesn't get a lot of sunlight.
-Controls the direction of the light from the tank so I can sleep at night
-Limits the movement of air through his screen top to help control humidity.
-Use modern architecture design principles to make a unique terrarium exterior but keep the interior more natural and traditional.

( I'll probably use materials like rigid foam insulation, wood louvers, etc. Stuff you wouldn't normally consider using with a terrarium.)

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Stories about Spotted Pythons overcoming a sudden phase of pickiness?

This is my first snake but I've done TONS of research for him. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of info out there on spotted pythons.

P.S. I apologize for such a long post, but I've been very busy these last few weeks and haven't had time to post as I think of things.