First time poster! What to do with live feed if refused?

[PENI]

I recently adopted a 6year old BP around May last year, and ever since then he's eaten a live feeder rat every 2 weeks. Recently though, and about 1 week after a fresh shed, he refused the live rat and even cowered away from it.

My question is what the hell do I do with this rat? Should I just kill it and freeze it? He only eats live rodents at the moment so I'm not sure if freezing it is a good idea. I've tried giving it back to him for 3 days but natta, and he's gone 2.5-3 weeks now without food. He's a very active snake and loves climbing around all over the place and is very social, so I'm not sure what's going on. Right now the Rat is just sitting in a box.

Should I just release the rat and try again in a week or so? I don't like the idea of wasting money on Rats just to set them free.