I have a spider girl who I MUST stabilize when feeding or she literally can not eat. Those familiar with spider balls know how hard it can be to feed a severe wobbler, and if I didn't stabilize Sassy when feeding her, she would never hit her target, and believe me, I have tried. Left it in front of her and watched her bounce her face off the ground until she seemed dazed. It is much less cruel to help her than to let her bash her own head in like that. This snake was given to me with an entire starter setup... Glass terrarium, lamps, hides, water dish, fake plants... The whole kazoo... Because her wobble was so bad that nobody else wanted her, and breeding her is out of the question. With a safe water dish and patient feeding, she will live a good life. I don't know that the OP snake is a wobbler, but every snake is different, and if the snake was comfortable enough to eat, he was probably not as stressed as you think. I would personally be more worried about setting him down after he started eating, I would be afraid he'd drop it and peace out and then not want it again... But clearly it worked this time anyway. As for me, I don't lift my wobbler up entirely because, being so unsteady, she feels insecure enough off the ground that she would immediately lose interest in eating at all. I sort of cup my hand around her, behind her head, so that when she wobbles, her head just bounces side to side off the inside of my hand. I hold the mouse RIGHT in front of her face and she usually gets it the first try. Disclaimer though, she is still a young'n, and when she bites it is pretty much like getting swatted by a playful cat. I probably wouldn't get this handsy with an adult... Certainly not with my other two snakes, LOL.