Question about Acrylic Enclosures

I don't mind the size of the enclosure so much...of course, I only have one snake! But I wonder about the doors being on the front. How do you dangle the prey, for example...how do you see into the enclosure. Dakota is not really my snake - he belongs to my daughter and touching him more than necessary still makes me a bit nervous-especially now that he's sooo big! I really only remove him to clean his enclosure, so I rely on my ability to see him now and then to judge his health, etc. I'm wondering what it would be like not to care for him from the top as I have been doing and have to do it from the side/front.