trying to feed Bradley tonight...

[Annarose15]

Don't stun the rat. First, stunning is an inhumane practice. The snake is fully capable of killing a non-stunned live rat. Second, stunning can do more harm than good because it is unpredictable how long the rat will be effected, and when they come out of being stunned, they tend to be even more aggressive. So, if you stun and your snake doesn't eat the rat, you are now risking your snake being bit by an angry rat and/or yourself being bit trying to remove the angry rat...

x1000

I'm assuming this is a young/hatchling snake that you're working with, so a live rat that's a correct size isn't capable of hurting him anyway - you're just terrorizing the rodent unnecessarily. I would get a live rat pup and just leave it in with him overnight. Once he's eaten a few good times for you, you can start the tough love of switching him to F/T, if that's the preference.

Younger rats are easily the size of adult mice, and much less dangerous, hence why none of mine ever see a mouse if possible.