Rat too big

Morty just weighted in at 500g so I'd decided to offer him a small rat. The rat was even a little skinnier than his thickest part...
Well...
At some point I thought I've broken my snake -- it was a visible struggle for him to swallow rat's hind legs... Now he definitely has a bulge.
I think I'll stick to weaned rats until his head will get a bit bigger...

Will he be alright? Especially in the light of the "Sudden Death" topic in Husbandry...

Should be fine. 500g is usually about when I start feeding mine small rats, though I sometimes start sooner depending on the snake's size. It might take him awhile to learn hwo to swallow larger prey items, but it shouldn't cause any problems.

Give him a few extra days to digest before handling, and wait ten days before his next meal if he's been on a weekly feeding schedule. He'll be ok.

I just bumped one of mine up to a small rat and she is 540g empty. I was giving her weaned but she was done and looking for more after 15 minutes. She was looking like she was going to give me a bad Yelp review for small portions lol. Didn't see her for like 4 days after her 1st small. She's good. Just follow the rule of thumb, only just a little wider than the snake's widest part. I say that because I have seen a variety of what a breeder/pet store will call a "small" as opposed to a medium.