I have had my male BP, Wade, for just under a year. Presently he is about 20-24" in length. I have been feeding him about every 10-14 days, depending on my work schedule. He has always been great about eating, as long as the food is alive. I've read all the dangers of feeding live, but sadly I have had no choice. When Wade was small I tried feeding him prekilled hoppers and he would not. Knowing the dangers of feeding live, I have always watched closely and have kind of held back when it has been time to increase the size of his foods. Background on wade: 10 gal tank (probably should get a larger one soon), he sheds monthly and always in one piece, eats every time his is presented food and does so like a CHAMP.

Side note: There was one time about 2 months ago (I was feeding him small rats for the second time) where by the time I got home from the pet store the rat had died. I am assuming he was sick from the get go. I took this as an opportunity to see if he would eat the prekilled food. To my surprise, after about 30 min of just looking at it, he ate it.

So today was the first time that I decided to buy him a medium sized rat. I thought he was going through a shed cycle so it has been about 18 days since he last ate, he hasn't shed and doesn't seem to be showing signs either. Well when I presented him the food he struck at it once. Now every other time he has had a meal, he takes out his prey like a champion. Maybe I am looking too much into it, but he always strikes right below the neck and coils the body of his prey well; leaving the rats mouth in the open and reducing the chance of him biting back. This time, when he struck, the rat just brushed him off. I was going to take it out, but Wade went in to strike again. Same result. After a few seconds, he struck a third time the rat kind of pushed him into his soak bowl. At this point Wade curled up and I knew it was time to get the rat out of there. Before i could, the rat tried to jump out of the cage, slipped and fell on Wade . I grabbed the rat and put him back in the travel cage. Luckily, wade started moving around after about 1 minute. He didn't seem hurt and it looked like he was looking for the rat again.

So it seems like I need to bite the bullet and force wade into eating prekilled food. So here are my questions:
1) How can I get him to eat prekilled when it has been an issue in the past?
2) Is there any way to tell if he was traumatized by this event?
3) How desperate should I be that he hasn't eat in much longer interval than normal and that his shed has not happened like normal?
4) What are the best ways to kill the prey? I have looked into co2 dry ice, and think its the easiest for me. However, I only buy one rat at a time, and don't think its the most cost effective way of doing it. I am not very comfortable breaking the spine.

I really appreciate you all taking the time to read my long post and appreciate any and all feedback. I just want what is best for my boy Wade!