Magnus played with his food the first time I gave him a small rat. I think he likes rat-smell better than mouse, because he went WILD-- full coil, sniffing it after it was "dead", even biting himself a couple of times in his eagerness to get to a place he could start swallowing. It was adorable in that mildly concerning way-- "is my snake going crazy?" Nope, just REALLY liked that rat.