I would be greatly upset if a piece of ingested substrate resulted in impaction or death.
I use paper towels, but your concern is legit.

I've even had two f/t rats have their inners squeezed out by one of the snakes squeezing too hard. Had that been in his tub, would have been a bigger mess to deal with.
This happens if you leave the rodent in the water for too long, or if the water is too hot. It will soften the skin of the rodent, particularly at the belly, and when the snake squeezes the rodent, it's stinky and messy insides come out... Learned from experience ...