Well, I know for a fact BP's will strike at prey in defense and not to eat it, I've seen it not once but numerous times from my het pied female.

She used to be a garbage disposal, then at around 800 grams, she quit eating. I knew that was normal, so I wasn't too worried. After 5 weeks of steady F/T refusals, I offered her a small live rat, which she happily ate. So I figured problem solved, I don't care much what they eat as long as they eat.

Two weeks in a row she took her live rat no problems. Then she had another feeding strike. Live didn't interest her, neither did F/T. We alternated between offering F/T and live each week. Four weeks into her feeding strike, when we offered the live rat, she would strike it, throw it away from herself, and then recoil and hiss. The rat would stay still for a while, as if to figure out what happened. As soon as it moved, she did it again, strike, throw, recoil and hiss. After the fifth time she did this we removed the damaged rat and fed it to someone else.

The following week we offered F/T which she ignored. The week after that, I decided to try going smaller and offered a live mouse. This pleased her and she ate it very quickly. I offered her a second, but she didn't want it. Next feeding day, I again offered her a live mouse, when she repeated her previous behavior. Strike, throw, recoil and hiss. Strike, throw, recoil and hiss. After four times her doing this, we removed the mouse and fed it to someone else. That was 2 months ago. She has taken a single live mouse in that time, and has thrown prey on four other occasions.

Her temps are spot on, she has her tight hides and water bowl, she has no mites and show no sign of illness. She's not loosing much weight as of yet. So we just keep waiting and trying. But I can tell you without a doubt she's reacting in fear to those rodents, and if you left it in there until her violent throwing killed it, she still wouldn't eat it.

To the OP, it may be that her striking did internal damage to the rat and that is why it died. But I know I've heard from many people about their snakes refusing to eat a certain color of rodent.

Gale