"...imagine someone walking in on me giving a dead rat a 'bath'"



Ha! Ha! Your life would never be the same.



The idea behind descenting F/T rats is to eliminate or reduce strong odors, some of which can be caused by rats urinating on theirself or each other while being put to sleep, their being kept in poor caging conditions (laying in urine & feces), etc... Also, maybe, just maybe, a dead rat smells different than a live one. Especially one that's been frozen for very long of a time.



So it's been 2 1/2 - 3 months since your snake has eaten? If it appears to be in good condition, not too skinny, scraggly looking, 3 months w/out food isn't reason to get too worried just yet. I would definitely still be wondering why but I wouldn't be too worried about it as long as it still looked to be in pretty good health.



Sounds as if your temps shouldn't be an issue. Humidity level within the cage could play a part. Make sure it has plenty of fresh drinking water and if it's in an aquarium with a screen top cover the majority of the screen with something non-porous, like aluminum foil, plastic, etc... If you suspect low humidity level you can increase it some by placing the water bowl closer to the UTH.



Has it been active, crawling around much, or just laying around?



If the cage is in a high traffic area, move it to a low traffic area. Provide a nice, snug-fitting hide if you haven't already. You might try leaving it alone for two weeks except just to peek at it here & there, momentarily, just to make sure it's doing OK.



Have you checked it for mmites? Given it a good looking over to make sure you don't see anything at all wrong with it?



If you handle it every day or pretty close to it you could be stressing it out.



I don't have much to go so I'm basically throwing all the basics at you, just to make sure they've been covered.



Hang in there!

HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,

this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:

Appalachian American

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