Did I do it wrong?

[MrLang]

I used to know someone who would knock the rat out before he fed it to his snake. He would knock it in the head right before feeding time. I'm not saying its the most humane thing ever, but it might be something to consider if you are gonna continue feeding live rats. or maybe switch to F/T.

Respectfully, this is also not good advice. A calm feeder is a safe feeder. Beyond the humane element here, if you put an animal into survival mode before introducing it to your snakes cage it poses a much greater risk than if it's totally clueless.

Ball pythons are AMBUSH predators. They do best against calm, unsuspecting prey going about their normal business.