Thank you for the responses. Like I said he goes off feed very easily and hates being handled. If I take him out I weigh him it's usually a couple of days after he's eaten so he has a while to get over it before his next feed. He was slightly underweight before this fast due the fact that we had a house fire and a house move which obviously got him quite stressed out, the vets said that there was nothing wrong with him after the fire and he ate a fair few times since. I think the miss strike has really knocked him about. If he doesn't take this one I will try live. Do you think I should try feeding him sooner rather than later? Or should I leave it a while as I tried yesterday? You can't actually see his spine...he's just headed that way. He wasn't in the greatest shape when we bought him to be honest and it took a long time to get him to eat.

I have never fed live, what the hell do I do with the rat if he won't take it?

About changing the rodent, I read that in the wild they eat gerboas, I can get them online. Should I try those?