First off, there is no need to feed outside their cage. If you use a substrate like aspen or eco earth, you can put down a paper plate or a piece of newspaper or printer paper. And also like others have said, I don't understand what you mean by he has still not swallowed after 2 hours. I mean it usually only takes my gals about 5-10 mins to swallow their rats once they start actually working on it. Pictures would help. Or at least more of an explanation.