not sure about being defensive, he's never struck out in defense before. As for the size, the rat is just smaller than the circumference of jimmys widest part. Generally I feed him once a week on fridays, but this time he he didn't eat within 15 minutes so I just called it quits for the weekend and I tried yesterday again, which I take may have been a bad thing. Nothing changed husbandry-wise for a long time now; I changed his substrate type about a month-and-a-half ago, which didn't seem do disturb his eating habits. The last he ate was on June 29.

For now, I guess I will let him chill until Friday and try again. The rat does not stay in the cage with jimmy, I take him out if he isn't eaten and keep him in a separate cage.