I have one ball and one boa, my roommate has a ball and I used to have one other...we always feed in their cages...we have had well over 400 successful feeds between the 4 of them in a little over 2years and have NEVER had those problems...
but hey if that what works then...good i guess, just wait till they get bigger rats are unruly...
and when the boa gets to rabbits, i dont think i want a bunny hopping around