I feed live. Been feeding live since 2008. I usually feed in a different container. My enclosures are decked out in "grandeur". It's not easy to take things out and put things back in. And I don't want rat poop inside the enclosure.

So, on feeding day, I put the snake in a different container, put a lab block (I feed the rats lab block) on one corner and put the rat in there too.

When I produced baby snakes, I started them off by feeding in their enclosure. They were on paper towels, so it's easier to clean. I leave everything - hides and water bowls - and put the rat in with a lab block. The snakes wait for the rats to get closer to the hide and they strike. Sometimes they sneak half-way out of their hides to strike. From my observation, the rats can tell there's a snake in the hide, because they haven't tried to go inside the hide.

But, I've only done this for the first few months, then I moved the "kids" to their "decked out" vivs and now they feed in a separate container.