I have not tried a live rat. I tried another fresh killed earlier today. He ended up trying to eat it, but only got up to the front legs of the rat and spit it out. I left him alone with it for a couple of hours and by the looks of the rat he did it multiple times. It wasn't too big for him. I fed him a decent sized medium. He was eating large to jumbo rats before. Why in the world woud he spit it back out after getting 1/3 of it down?