I feed live.

My room is already pre-scented because the rats and snakes share a room.

I open tub...toss rat in..snake eats.

repeat.

I do not recommend holding the rat by the tail because you will likely stress out the rat to where it is in a strong defensive mode and could get aggressive with your snake.

the key to feeding live is to be patient..feed proper size prey and always...monitor live feedings.