I will second Jo. I would bet that the strike and a miss is not that at all. I have 5 WC adults in my collection, and have one in particular that is a good eater. However, she will occassionaly not eat. When she is not hungry, she will strike the rat repeatedly if it gets near her (note: you better watch that rat when you take it out, because it is not a happy camper). I have another that did not eat for 55 weeks when we got her, but finally she decided she was hungry one day and ate a mouse. It has been all downhill since then, she has gained about 900 grams in the last year. One last note, if I read correctly, you offered a F/T meal to your WC snake. It will probably take a little while to get him/her to eat F/T, as they do not get meals like that in the wild. I do find that my WC animals have a much stronger feeding response after they start eating, and do convert to F/T easier (at least that has been my limited experience). Hope some of this helps, and I'm glad to hear that your animal ate for you.