" (I fully understand the pro's and con's of live vs. f/t, but in terms of convenience for me, I want to go for f/t even tho theres a lower feeding response)"
just my opinion,, but i dont think that there is any cons to feeding F/T.
unless your breeding your own feeders, theres a trip to the pet shop every week,, with F/T you you can keep 6 months or more on stock.
with live, you have to supervise feedings,,, with F/T's, you can leave it in over night, no worries.
with live, youll run the risk of geting a injured snake,,, a pre killed rat aint biting nothing.
and last, if your snake dont eat, you aint gotta keep a rat alive until next time.

as far as feeding responce, i have snakes that will knock the hell outta a F/T, and some that just takes it (still agressive strike).. one of my bloods dont even strike,, just flop the rat in there, and he'll ease up to it and slowley open his mouth and start eating.
i reicentaly got 2 adult BP's (from diferent sources) that were on live only,,, after a week of seteling in,, i offered FT, one ate it , the other dident. next week, the same thing,,, next week, the other got hungry and ate and now pounds F/T's...
id say offer them (F/T's) right off, if they dont eat, try again next week..
just my 2...
spooky