Emily, thanks for the feeding routine. I never thought of that and will definitely try it.

Heat pits. I put an under the tank heat pad on the side of the glass enclosure. The rat was in front of that, so maybe he couldn't identify the heat of the rat vs. the heat of the pad.

mpkeelee, thank you, too! He's just a regular pet shop ball python. I inherited him from a former student when he was 4 months old.