Constricting...but not swallowing

[Camel Zombie]

So I came back from college for winter break Friday, December 11th. Unfortunately, my dorm doesn't allow pets except fish or service animals. My dad agreed to take care of my BP while I was away for these first two semesters that I was forced to live in a dorm by the school. I walked my dad through on feeding and cleaning. While I was away, my dad never got a problem with my BP. When I came back, it was my turn to take care of it. So feeding day came by and he gladly took the medium rat. He recently switched to rats from mice with no problem before I left in August. The only odd thing is that the BP would have a hard time looking for the head to swallow after constricting and would even try to swallow starting at at the hind legs since I guess he would think that was his head because of the size-up of the food. My feeding routine, followed by my dad, was to leave out the f/t on top of the screen cover of the cage for around 4-5 hours to defrost. Then I would heat it up with a heat bulb for two minutes and feed it to my BP in a fedding tub. I would be in the same room with the lights on while he ate and observe without moving. Feeding time was usually late at night, around 11pm. My dad would feed it at around 8pm. I rarely had any days where he never took it and neither did my dad. So when I came back, he took his first rat with no hesitation besides having a bit of trouble finding the rats head. I waited 8 days for his next rat. He constricted it and tried to find the head. He eventually gave up and roamed around his tub. I left him in there with the rat just to see if he ate it. Fifteen minutes passed and nothing. I reheated and reintroduced. Not even a strike, just a but curious of this "zombie rat". I put him back and waited for another 8 days. This next time, I accidentally left the rat out for 24 hours to defrost. My bad. So technically 9 days before the third rat. Followed my feeding procedure, but he didn't even strike. Rehated and tried again. No results. I put him back and didn't really worry. I thought to myself that I mightve stressed him out by over handling since my dad never handled him besides for one soak in the tub and I also realized that his temps were too low for both sides of his cage. I refrained from handling. I also wanted to get him a bigger cage since he outgrew his old 20 gallon long tank. I upgraded him to a 40 gallon in the time between the 3rd and 4th rat. I should also mention that I did not handle him in between this time either. Just to transfer him to his new home and for a spot cleaning of urates. I set him up from paper towels to Reptibark, a new cold side hide and some moss for humidity. His hot side temps were now perfect due to a new uth (regulated by a thermostat), but his ambient temps were still too cold. Yesterday, January 14th, I hooked him up with a CHE (regulated by a thermostat too) for perfect ambient temps. And yes, humidity stays well between 50-70 rarely dropping to 40 when I forget to humidify. Now today, January 15th, was feeding day (9 days previous to the last feeding day). I decided to change my defrost routine to an easier alternative. I placed the rat in a zip lock bag and placed it in a cup of war water for around three hours. I then took the rat out of the bag and placed it on top of the screen cover to get the snake in to feeding mode. I waited five minutes and he was out of his hide roaming. When I got up to warm the rat with the heat bulb, the snake got in to a frozen posture as if he was being warry of me. As i reached near the cage with a snake hook to get him in to the tub, he latched on to his driftwood. I let him loosen up a bit. He then moved to the inside of his hide. I lifted his hide and he was in strike mode. I tapped him on the head with my "snake hook" (drum stick) so he would bite me. I got him out into his tub. I offered the food and he struck, constricted, and tried to find the head. This time, he gave up fairly quickly. I would say five minutes. I reheated twice by dipping the rat in hot water and testing if it was too hot for feeding. The BP seemed really intrigued by this zombie rat and went around sniffing it. If I would not move the rat around, he would loose interest and try to escape the tub. I left him in the tub with the rat for about 10 minutes but no results. I decided to leave him in his enclosure but I would place the rat inside with him overnight. I placed it in front of his favorite hide. I waited a bit and saw him with his head poking out of the hide resting on top of the rat. As I write this, I am waiting for the night to be over and if he doesn't eat it in the morning, I'll get rid of the rat. Thing is that I leave back to college tomorrow morning so pretty much, any husbandry changes will be commanded by me and followed by my dad. It won't be too much of a problem but it won't be easy. I'm not too worried since my theory is that my snake is off feed because of the winter. He doesn't looked malnourished or sluggish at all. I haven't really kept track on his weight but I guess that's up to my dad now.

So my questions are: What should I do?...and...If he doesn't eat the rat by the morning, should I throw it away or freeze it?

P.S. He shed once in between his first and second meal with me and he hasn't gone into shed since then. And the 24 hour defrosted rat was thrown away instead of being frozen with the other rats.

[Camel Zombie]

Also, I think I should mention that using live feeders is a very narrow option since my mom would not allow it al allow because of her terrible fear of rats added with her fear of snakes. Finding some kind of west African rat for better feeding results would be rare to find since I live in a small town with one exotic pet store that is infested with mites. I would also like to apologize for my terrible redundant writing. I suck, I know.

[Camel Zombie]

UPDATE: As soon as I finished writing this, I checked to see the cage because I heard movement. I shined my flashlight and the snake had his head and neck out above the rat. When I got closer, he retreated.

[LittleTreeGuy]

Here is what I would do...

continue to thaw the prey in the baggie/warm water method. Not super-hot water, or the prey can erupt. Trust me, it stinks. Don't put the prey on the cage for any period of time. Just heat it up in the baggie of warm water. When you're ready to feed, put the rat under a hair dryer for a minute or two to get it nice and warm. Then, with tongs, present the prey to your snake in his enclosure. Don't take him out of it. Let him eat in his home. If he doesn't take it right away, you can leave the prey in the cage with him for a while (or overnight if he hasn't eaten in a while). If it's still there in the morning, I would remove and dispose of that rat. Try again on his next feeding day. If he still doesn't eat, but isn't losing weight, you're correct, he could be fasting. I'd still try to feed every 7-10 days until he takes it.