"It's been 10 months now and I'm continuing to feed live with no problems but he's growing and I'm feeding larger and there's now a higher potential of a rat that's going to wound the snake. For instance last week when I fed him, Pontius was being fussy. So I placed the rat closer to Pontius and he struck but missed"

Couple of concerns here. What size are you feeding when you say "larger". Even our mature female BP's are never offered anything bigger than a live small rat. They might well take two of them but they are never allowed to be in an enclosed space with any live rat over a small size. This helps cut down risks to the snake and allows our snakes to self-regulate (if they aren't particularily hungry they only take the one and refuse the second that week). Even our smaller BP's are fed live rats that never leave a visible lump in their bodies (again they may take a second pup or weanling if they want it that week).

I don't understand the "placed the rat closer". When you live feed you should be placing the rat as far away from your snake as possible, not putting it closer. This allows the prey to move naturally around the enclosure and for your snake to position itself to strike cleanly when it's instincts tell it the time is right. Never force live prey and a snake into very close quarters. It may take time for the strike to occur but that's as it should be.

If you wish to move the snake over to f/t, try pre-killed first. Make sure the prey is offered immediately so it is still blood warm. You may have to use hemostats to move the rodent in a way that simulates live movement (don't dangle it by the tail...rats can't fly sort of thing LOL). Some snakes will go from live to p/k or f/t, some will not.

The best thing as far as I'm concerned is to feed what your snake will eat, in the way it will eat it. Learn as much as you can about that feeding method for your benefit, the benefit of the snake and the prey item as well (in the case of live rats/mice).