I too feed live but stand by with tongs or sometimes fingers :/ to shove in the rat's mouth, needless to say, I much prefer the tongs. I've had a couple snakes strike weird and get very minor bites once or twice but nothing remotely serious. As long as you aren't dumping the rodent in and leaving you should be and most importantly always feed appropriately sized meals, never too big. The only time I've seen a rodent actually actively try to attack a snake was the one time I tried offering a gerbil to a picky eater.