Try using a hair dryer to heat the head of the rat more. That way they can hone in better. I had a fun feeding experience last week. All my snakes eat f/t and my male Levi has been ravenous lately. He's in a PVC cage so while I was opening the drop down door (I was about a foot away from the cage) He shot out of the cage and grabbed the rat out of the tongs and back into the cage! It was so cool but startling because I wasn't expecting it at all. It was cool seeing how far he could strike