Adam told me the history behind the picture of the snake that was eaten up by a mouse or rat, and it wasn't from a 30 minute session of leaving the mouse or rat with the snake. If he cares to, he can give more history on it.
There is nothing wrong with feeding live if done responsibly. Kashmire has only fed live since I've had him and never un-supervised. He's had no problem doing what comes naturally, and the mice have never been aggressive to him when exploring the tank.
I don't take feeding live lightly and have only chosen to do so after many, many questions to Adam about it so that I feel very comfortable with the safety of doing so with supervision.
Discussions on live vs. pre-killed or f/t are on another thread (probably still on this page).