The most passive live feeding I've ever seen

[coimbra.jon]

I have a 2-year-old corn snake named Gendry I've had since (s)he was a baby, for the first year and a half he's been feeding frozen thaw. Very reliable feeder, always fed regularly, normal behavior towards food, consistently striking.

I recently got a beautiful baby ball python that feeds live; Out of curiosity (and convenience, I will admit) I tried switching Gendry over to live feeding. He took to live rat pups instantly, no hesitation. He seemed to me glowing and happy for the switch (personification much?).

All was sailing smoothly for few months and seemingly for no reason he stopped feeding altogether. After a month of not feeding, I tried frozen thaw again, with no luck. After a month and 2 weeks of rejecting food, I tried adjusting the temperature gradient in his tank and voila he was fine. He finally fed! On a small weaned rat, I was happier than ever.

Ten days later here I am today baffled by what I just saw. Gendry didn't strike his live weaned rat, just passively chomped onto it and slowly wrapped it up. The rat didn't flinch, the little fella just took it. It surrendered to the whole long grueling scenario. I'm afraid that he won't always be so lucky, I wager I will have to switch to frozen thaw again.

I'd like to know what other snake enthusiasts would have to say about this scenario as I'm very curious as to what would prompt this sort of behavior?