I would suggest getting the animal eating correctly before pushing f/t so hard. I'm all for trying f/t for the first meal, you might get lucky. I did. Then in the case of my spider she refused one f/t and I have never offered her one since. She has since became my best and most aggressive feeder.

As I said one try is fine, but now it is time to get the animal eating. Worry about your conveniences later.

I would buy a live fuzzy rat and let it scent and then offer it. You can leave the fuzzy rat in there since they have no teeth and pose no harm to the snake. He also might like a bit of privacy to eat.