BP PTRD, what can I do to help him.

[krlivingood]

In my town there is only one place I know to buy live feeders for my BP, PetCo. They tend to run out of rats quickly:

A few weeks ago I got him a medium rat instead of a small one b/c that's all there was and he is at a size where he should be able to handle it.
All was going normal and then halfway through the rat my BP started struggling and even retracted a few millimeters of the half eaten rat but eventually he got the rat down, but ever since then he runs from rats even small ones, last week he took a mouse no problem, so this week we got him a small rat and still he just ran.

What can I do?
What should I do?

Thank You ,
Kayla

[JLC]

After a meal that size, the snake could easily go several weeks without eating. I'd give it a couple more weeks without any feeding attempts at all, just let the snake relax for awhile without any outside stress. Then try a small rat. If allowing the snake to get good and hungry doesn't restore its appetite for live rats, you still have several alternatives. Mice work as well, you just have to offer two or three at a time (one after the other, not all at once!). You can also try pre-killing the rats and see if that makes them less intimidating. And you can see if the snake will accept frozen/thawed, which opens up your options to online sources rather than a single local pet store.

[DVirginiana]

My vote would be trying to get him on f/t if at all possible. I can sympathize with what a pain it is when the only place you can buy live feeders is out of what you need.

[krlivingood]

After a meal that size, the snake could easily go several weeks without eating. I'd give it a couple more weeks without any feeding attempts at all, just let the snake relax for awhile without any outside stress. Then try a small rat. If allowing the snake to get good and hungry doesn't restore its appetite for live rats, you still have several alternatives. Mice work as well, you just have to offer two or three at a time (one after the other, not all at once!). You can also try pre-killing the rats and see if that makes them less intimidating. And you can see if the snake will accept frozen/thawed, which opens up your options to online sources rather than a single local pet store.

Thank You I will try that.