Is live feeding really that bad?

[Nixon]

I understand that mice, rats, rabbits, prey will fight back if an animal is after it. I would too if someone tried to strangle me. But I see all these articles and info that you shouldn't feed your snake live prey, or it's preferred that you don't feed them live. And their excuses seem awfully extreme. "The prey may eventually turn on the snake and kill it." I can see larger prey like rabbits maybe kicking or clawing a bit but if anything they're terrified. The prey should only be as big as the largest part of the snakes body and I'm sure any good person taking care of a snake would remove the mouse, rat, rabbit, etc, if ti was causing problems. I can see that some claws can leave some scars but snakes in the wild still live a decent lifespan and I'm sure they get scuffed but. Maybe not by their prey, simply because prey isn't usually in a confined space with the predator but other hazards can happen and they live through it. I'm expecting if a snake gets clawed or bit by it's food, it's nothing a little dilated antibiotic cleanser can't handle. And how often does prey really attack their predator? Especially with smaller snakes like a young ball python or cornsnake - I don't think mice and rats want to go after them that much.

But I tried my first live feeding today with a small albino mouse meant for being fed to animals like snakes. My snake is a bit stupid when it comes to actual hunting but she struck it and bite it on the head and then constricted it. I can tell the mouse was wriggling but she had it tight. The only thing the mouse wanted to bite was me when I picked it up by the tail.

I'm hoping not to make this a habit, it's just the frozen mice I've been having issues with because first, my snake seems into the frozen prey but something is turning her off. It's really a hassle to keep the mouse warm when your snake is taking its sweet time. I know that she's hungry but from yesterday when I tried to feed her she struck at the mouse but missed. It scared me so I dropped it and I think it landed on her head and spooked her so I believe that's what got her to not want it anymore. I hear that snakes sometimes like scared of the prey. But I knew she was hungry, she was peeking out of her hiding spots, exploring her terrarium when she usually hides and yeah, she was hungry. It took her about ten minutes to lay on the first strike that missed but I think it's probably the weird smell of the frozen mouse, the temperature, the fact that my hand is there, all of that.

But there was a local pet store who sold mice that can be fed to pets, no chemicals or weird medicines. And we took a small one and eventually after twenty minutes of my snake being stupid she finally got it. She gets way too close to her prey to strike because she's only been fed frozen. And when she gets too close the mouse runs.

But yeah, if you don't want to read all that: Is live feeding really that bad?