BTW, what I would have tried under the circumstances: after you watched briefly to see if he'd pick it up & he didn't, I'd have retrieved the rat using tongs, warmed it (probably with a blow-dryer) & re-offered it via feeding tongs. What went wrong there, besides the distraction, is that the rat cooled off. BPs rely heavily on their heat sensing pits to find & pounce on their prey- they get confused if they drop it & it cools off- they can still smell it, but may fail to find it & eat.
Re-warming the prey can often help. No guarantee, of course, some snakes will just be intimidated by your presence, but that's what I'd have at least tried, rather than leaving it in his home overnight. (Leaving it works okay for some snakes that rely on scent, but BPs rely more on warmth & "signs of life".)
The fact that your BP was slithering toward you suggests to me that he's not as shy as you think, & that he was after your motion as the potential prey he just "lost". If you had just reached in to retrieve the rat right then, you'd likely have found out what a BP-bite feels like- it sounds like he shouldn't be too hard to feed, once you both get on the same page.
Originally Posted by Bogertophis
BTW, what I would have tried under the circumstances: after you watched briefly to see if he'd pick it up & he didn't, I'd have retrieved the rat using tongs, warmed it (probably with a blow-dryer) & re-offered it via feeding tongs. What went wrong there, besides the distraction, is that the rat cooled off. BPs rely heavily on their heat sensing pits to find & pounce on their prey- they get confused if they drop it & it cools off- they can still smell it, but may fail to find it & eat.
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