Though I don't feed live and was one of the people who used to think feeding live was a horrible thing to do, I've learned from talking with people and reading that it's not that bad provided you do it right. The prey needs to be well fed, watered, and calm. It doesn't know it's being fed to something and the injuries you see in pics are where people have left a hungry rodent in a tub with a not so hungry snake. The only thing for that rodent to eat is the snake. If it worries you and you have one who will only eat live, you can watch to make sure that the snake eats but several breeders just toss the prey in and check about 10-30 minutes later. You have to remember snakes are hardwired to deal with live prey and even when I feed mine f/t, they go for the head and constrict so quickly that it would be hard for a live prey item to survive.