Haha, nice one!
I actually started getting feeding responses like that, but used tongs from day one, even for the babies, when I started thawing my rats directly in a pan of hot water.
I've seen a lot of people say to keep them dry and put them in a baggy before putting them in water to thaw, but for my snakes, that hot water soak, and then one last blast of hot water before dangling the rat in there is what gets them every time.
That's actually what got my problem feeder boy to finally start eating regularly

Before that I tried all the usual thawing methods, heat lamps, hair dryer, just letting it sit out all day, etc. and it was still pretty hit and miss sometimes.