I bring my live rats into the snake room in a container without a lid. I watch both sets of animals for about 20 minutes. I usually take that time to figure out who's getting the bigger small, or the smaller pup. After the 20ish minutes are up I start dropping in the rats. Sometimes I have to put the rats in a tube, open the tub, then slide the rat in due to the snakes striking at air as soon as I open their tubs. I then check to see that all have balled up on their prey items, watching the last ones I fed strike, take notes to the ones that haven't "found" their food yet. <--that last one is rare. I then wait at least 36 hour before going in their tubs again for cleaning, handling, etc..