I got 2 rats from PetCo today. They were the usual size. At around 2:00pm, I put one in Cu's bin. Cu was sleeping in her water bowl (empty of water), which she has been doing a lot lately. Kind of weird. Her warm hide is at 94F (she usually leaves it when it hits 92; personal preference I guess), and she can't fit in her cool hide (I'm getting a new one). Anyways, I put one rat in, she looked at it for a while, then grabbed it. Every single time she eats I get really reallly really worried that it bit her. It never has. It's hard to see when she's wrapped around it, but it looked like it was chewing on her. After squeezing it for a while, she let go. I was hyperventilating. I didn't see any blood. For a while, Cu sniffed all around her, looking for possible danger, I figure. She does that every time. But this time, she spent about a half hour sniffing the area. She thoroughly sniffed the rat too. Usually, she checks her surroundings for 5 minutes max. I thought maybe I was stressing her, sitting on the floor really tense, so I went up to my top bunk with my laptop. I glanced down every so often, though I couldn't see her really well. At some point, she began to swallow. She had the head in her mouth and took it to the other side of the bin. She was stretched out; I couldn't see her head and the rat, but I saw the rest of her body roll until she was stomach-up. That really worried me, so I got down and looked. She still had the first half in her mouth and her head (and the rat) was resting on the top of her cool hide (kleenex box). She seemed fine, so I left her alone again. A while later, I checked on her and saw her curled up under her warm hide. Then I noticed the dead rat on the other side of the cage.

I am 100% clueless as to what happened, but I am really worried. I assume she regurged when she hadn't even gotten it all in her mouth. Sorry I made this so long; I tried to be very detailed. Everything seemed normal.

Here's some basic info on her:
Age: 3 yrs
Size: 3'10"
I've owned her for: 9 months
Housing: 41 quart bin; 6" high (I moved her several weeks ago from a 40 gallon glass tank)
Warm side: 90-94F
Cool side: 68F (I know its freezing, I am working really hard on that)
Setup: water bowl (empty right now), warm hide, cool hide
Eating schedule: I try for weekly feedings, but its usually a few days off because I can't get out to Petco. A while ago (month, maybe? Two?) she fasted for about a month. She has always been a bad, fussy eater.
Food: medium rats, size of her at her biggest point. Usually black and white. Live; she refuses f/t
Last ate: Christmas eve (8 days ago)




What could possibly have happened? I'm really worried about her right now! She's refused plenty of times, but she's never killed a rat without eating it, and she's never regurged at all.