How do you feed your ball?

[Vengeance]

Just curious what methods people use to feed their ball. I've found a funny little quirt with mine during feeding time. I use a pair of thorsepcs and hold the rat (currently pinky rat) by one of the hind legs and dangle it in front of him. He almost allways strikes when I put it in front of him. But the funny thing is when he does he usually hits it so hard that it gets sent flying half way across the cage cause the leg tears off. Thing is I know he is hungry because he is hitting it, he will allways hit it 2 - 3 times but anything after that he won't bother anymore. If he can't coil it after the third hit because it goes flying then he wants nothing to do with it. So what methods do you guys use for feeding. I was thinking about laying it on a flat plastic container with no edges and placeing it in his cage see if he'd go for it that way, any other suggestions?