I am new to the forum. I currently don't own any snakes although i did keep corn snakes when i was younger. I want to start keeping ball pythons. I have some questions about feeding.

First, How difficult is it to get balls to eat f/t? My general understanding is that up 70-80% of balls will take f/t. Is this accurate? I ask because i simply don't have the heart to feed live prey. I know how that sounds givin im interested in reptiles, but im an animal lover and that includes mammals. Second, its my understanding that it is much cheaper to buy frozen thawed in bulk, so if i buy some hatchlings how many feedings before i have to increase prey size? If you know of a timelime/prey size to snake scale please let me know where i can find it. Finally, People often say that balls don't always take food on a regular basis. If i am feeding frozen thawed and the snake doesn't take the prey, do i throw it away or can i re-freeze it for future feeding?

Any imput would help a ton.