Dont freeze them alive. That isnt right. And if you only ve one then its really up to you what you want to.feed your snake. I never have any rats at home. I buy the live rats every week and feed them the same day. If one of my snakes turns down a meal somebody else will take it. I have 3 snakes (soon to be 4) so its convinient for me feeding live. I also dont like the thought of rats in my freezer and i heard it can be a smelly job when it comes to defrosting mice/rats.