Young snakes need food! Yours is not eating enough & feeding is "JOB #1" right now, so yes, I'd personally go back to live if needed, but maybe try live mice instead- ONLY with eyes closed, so it won't be large enough, but should give your snake some essential nutrition along with much needed confidence to eat.
Note: mice & rats with eyes closed do NOT bite back in self defense. Do NOT use "pinkies"- you want fuzzies- w/ eyes closed- or rat pups with EYES CLOSED! But since your snake was likely bit by a rat- she may never want them again- that's on you now, & she may need to eat mice (or other prey) for life.
Most BPs started on mice are started with hopper mice as the right meal size- they're young but larger with eyes open- they WILL bite back. Don't risk that right now, but consider that if your snake likes (accepts) mice of any size ("fuzzy"), that may be your ticket to feeding her. I would regard a live fuzzy mouse as an "appetizer"- & if she takes one or several, she may go on to accept pre-killed mice (either f/t warmed mice or f/k- fresh killed) of a more appropriate size. She might even take a f/t small rat pup after taking a live mouse fuzzy successfully, if you do this right. > >
Have the f/t rodent thawed & ready to go. When a snake eats one small live thing, they're often pumped up enough to grab the next thing offered right after they swallow the first thing. Keep it low-key though- don't jiggle it too vigorously- that scares many snakes- & keep any motion subtle & see if you can train her using fuzzy mice to just get her eating- okay? (For best results feed in evening hours- dim light- don't move around a lot, that distracts a snake from eating.)
Good luck! Most likely, your snake will NOT want rats again- & right now, she needs to EAT to survive. So don't risk feeding any rats now, not until she's eating for a long time on mice & has a good body weight. Then & only then, if you want to risk a steady feeder* to try rats again, that's up to you. (*assuming you get her going on mice now).
Rats with eyes open ARE intelligent, defensive & scary- they bite hard. I don't blame your snake one bit- a "baby" BP should never be fed a "young rat" that has it's eyes open & bites back in self defense- not if you value your pet. You're lucky she wasn't badly injured or even killed by the rat. In the wild, young snakes don't always make it- taking on prey that's too tough for their skills is one of many reasons.
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