Believe me the rodent really doesn't have much of a clue what is going on around it. These feeder mice and rats have been raised so long in captivity that most have little to no prey instinct left, having never been preyed upon. I've seen our feeder rats literally walk right up to a snake in full strike position and sniff it's nose (this is usually followed by WHAP and a very quick end for the rodent). A healthy snake can easily deal with a healthy prey item as long as that prey item is the correct size and introduced properly. We put all our live prey as far away from the snake as possible. Both to keep our hands out of the way and also to allow the snake to properly and safely set up it's strike.