I would suggest pithing. It's taking a knife and placing the tip in the hollow at the back of the skull, right where skull and spine meet. Apply pressure and since the bone is weakest back there, it should just pop in. It's instant death and relatively painless...as long as you get past the first initial 'poking'. Twitching might occur but it incites a better feeding response since the rat is still moving and potrays the illusion of being alive.

F/T is a good way if you want to run the chance of overthawing and having to clean up exploded rat from your hungry snake while smelling like a rat. I feed my Suriname chickens, ones that just grew in their pin feathers and small rabbits. I pith the rabbits because of their claws and teeth but I've never had a chicken injure my snake.

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