What an interesting thread! I've never heard much about live feeding before, it's definitely been a bit eye-opening.

I personally feed f/t. I really dislike having breeding rats and mice in my house (even when we tried keeping them in the garage) and it's WAY cheaper for me to keep a freezer full of meals than to buy fresh and wiggling every time I feed.

I used to feed live occasionally, especially when I first had ball pythons and that's what they had been eating before I bought them, and they turned their noses up when I offered f/t. Also, if I couldn't get f/t for the boas in the right size at the pet store, I'd grab a live one and supervise very closely.

The last time I fed a live mouse to my ball pythons, it was to my little boy "Lizard". He struck, grabbed hard, and coiled, but the mouse managed to make about three puncture wounds along his back, and they just barely bled. It really scared me because I was right there, supervising with tongs just in case, but the head of the rodent was buried deep in coils and I couldn't see him getting bit. The wounds healed up quickly and there wasn't really any major problems other than him being a bit sore (I'm assuming) and me being a bit traumatized. None of the punctures left a scar.

I left him alone for a few weeks, dangled a f/t wean rat outside his hide, and he ate it and never looked back.

Really, though, it boils down to experience, technique, vigilance, and personal preference. There are definitely extremists on both ends of the spectrum out there.