I feed live. The first time I did it he got the mouse's whole head in his mouth and I thought that's the way it worked. But, over time I've found that the snake doesn't go for the head at all. It only happens if the rodent is coming straight at the snake for the strike. The majority of the feeds he gets them somewhere along the side and then re-aligns them for swallowing. So far, it doesn't seem to matter much because he squeezes them so hard they are unable to do much.