haha i just switched to the "small rats" (they were huge for being called small) they had at petco and they were a little intimidating for constantine. I thought that he was gonna get owned by the rat and i was ready to grab it out and defend my baby but it turns out he was less wimpy than i thought he was. anyways the point is, while he was trying to swallow it he even had to spit it back out a little bit and take a different approach to the rattie, but ended up eating it anyways in the end with surprising speed.