ive had no problems feeding live mice to my ball, no scratches bites, injures, etc. i HAVE seen a mouse chew on the tail of a baby ball at a pet store, after alerting a worker there i asked if they didnt know any better than to leave a rodent with a snake and the answer i got was "the guy who feeds them went to lunch....." shocking and TRUE story and one more reason to buy from a breeder and not a pet store. hope this helps