Quote Originally Posted by Ginevive View Post
Everyone who feeds live, should either know how to, and be prepared to, feed and care for live prey that is refused.. or be equipped to humanely euthanize the prey animal if the snake refuses. Just my 0.02.
I agree... I've been stuck with live prey before, which is why I bought 2 critter keepers and researched what they eat. One of the rat pups was so cute, I actually ended up keeping him - then I got him a friend, and that same night my roommate's dog broke the cage open & ate the original pup. That left us stuck with the other rat, which I ended up giving to a friend (as a pet).

Aside from that one occasion, I just keep them alive until the snake is ready to eat. We had two rejected mice when Delilah was in shed, and kept them in the critter keeper for a few days... rats and mice will eat basically anything, but I usually offer things like cereal, fruit and bread. Rat pups are a different story, however, and I actually had to hand-feed baby formula (with a syringe) to that one little guy. So yes, if you will be feeding live, you should have a back-up plan for the leftovers - it happens more often than you think! As for freezing the rat, you did what you had to, and I won't judge you for it.