The first several times I fed my bp I was super excited to watch him grab it and stuff. Tonight is feeding for my snake too, and I still get excited and a bit nervous about it. I have heard that thawing the feeder directly in water can wash off some of the scent, so perhaps putting it in a plastic bag first might help for next time. Also, are you feeding your snake in a separate tub? There is some debate about this practice, and if it works for you then that's great, but the general consensus seems to be that it just adds unnecessary stress (for you and the snake), which may also make feeding more difficult. Congrats on the successful feed though!