Odd feeding behavior--sick rat?

[Parysa]

I searched for this, but didn't find anything. Apologies if it's been brought up before.

I have a 4 month old female spotnose ball python who has always been a pretty aggressive feeder. She's eating small-medium rats once per week with no problem. I got a rat today to feed her and she did something I haven't seen before, but I'm a newbie, so don't know if this is normal. She struck without much hesitation and rolled it like always, held on till I was sure it was dead, and then basically spat him out. He got up and walked away (which shocked me) and she smelled him a few times, but stayed away from him after that till I finally took him out. I thought at first that she might not have been hungry because she's in shed, but she was agitated afterward like she was still hungry. I didn't see any marks on her and didn't see him scratch or bite her, so I don't think he hurt her. However, I did notice a strong fecal smell when he defecated just before she struck and after saw that he had what looked almost to be diarrhea and smelled awful like dog feces. Could he have been sick and that's why she refused him? Aside from the diarrhea, he appeared healthy (well, before she got him...), but obviously he wasn't. Or is it just that she's in shed and wasn't actually hungry, just struck on instinct? I'm going to leave her alone till she's done shedding and then offer her a different rat.
Her setup is right and temps/humidity are where they're supposed to be. Nothing has changed since I've gotten her and she's not acting strangely aside from being agitated after the rat was removed, but even then she wasn't aggressive, just definitely not the docile girl she's been since I got her which makes me think she's still hungry. I'm glad she refused him if he was sick because I'd never knowingly give an unhealthy animal to her, but I want to make sure there's nothing wrong with *her*.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I had something like this happen before. I'm honestly not 100% sure on why my snake refused the rat, but not a single one of my snakes would take this rat. Maybe they knew something I didn't but I do know that it smelled a little odd (but not to the point that I didn't feel comfortable feeding it to my snakes)

It could have been a number of things, impossible to say for sure. Hopefully your next feeding will be successful.

[NormanSnake]

Small- medium rats seem really big for a 4 month old... That's usually what adults are eating. Maybe she's just not hungry?

[PitOnTheProwl]

Small- medium rats seem really big for a 4 month old... That's usually what adults are eating. Maybe she's just not hungry?

Depends on her size..................... most of my big girl eat medium or large

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I have had a couple of mind kill and leave it, don't know why

[Ryan Chin]

Small- medium rats seem really big for a 4 month old... That's usually what adults are eating. Maybe she's just not hungry?

I second this. I'm not the most experienced in seeing hundreds or thousands of babies but I ca not picture a 4m/o well over 500-600 grams.

[Ryan Chin]

from my experience this happens when they are hungry and realize they can not get the food down due to size. My advice would be to try a weaned or pup and see how they take it.

[Flikky]

A small to medium rat is a bit much for a 4 month old bp for sure, I'd think. Without pics of the snake though *shrug* I only feed F/T so I can't help you there

[REBELLMORPH]

just last week my big mama normal in heavy shed kill puppy rat and i did find him in the tub next morning
i think she just don't enjoy the company

[NormanSnake]

somehow I'm thinking it was a typo and they meant to say four year old.

[Parysa]

No, it's not a typo. She's 4 months, but she's thick. I haven't weighed her, so I'm not sure exactly how big she is. The breeder said she's been on small-medium rats with him, so I've been giving her small ones. This particular one was smaller than her girth and she's taken rats a little bigger than this one before with no problem. When I went this time for rats, the place only had the two that I got (for her and my male who is smaller than her even though he's a little older and he took his without issue) and ones that were way too big. When I say small, I mean sub-adult. Even their large rats aren't as big as ones I've had as pets before, so I don't think it's a size issue with the rat. Like I said, the male took his with no problem and it was just under the size of the one I gave her and he's slimmer than she is. However, just to be sure, next time I feed her, I'll try something smaller just in case.