Well, you'd be surprised of what a snake can actually take down even if it seems huge. I remember feeding my Dumeril's boa a BIG rat crawler and she coiled, swallowed, and digested it like it was nothing.

I started feeding Candice small rats when she became a year and a half old. She seemed like she could definitely take it down because of her huge girth, so I thought, "Oh, what the heck." so I just went ahead and fed her that small rat. Ever since I've been feeding her rats she's been growing and growing. Now, I see that the small rat was A LOT better than feeding her two adult/large mice.

*Side Note- Rats are a lot better for snakes (more nutritional) and will definitely make your snake grow faster than keeping your snake on a diet of only mice. I've noticed that ever since I was feeding Candice rats (about 2-3 months ago) she grew a good 4 inches.