Frozen Thawed 1st Order - Size Question

[ckuhn003]

YES!
Snakes will eat whatever they can to survive in the wild. We over-obsess as owners, and though when it comes to climate-control, it is good, since the large majority of us must replicate a foreign climate, which requires precision. When it comes to feeding however, the size and numbers of prey can be much varied and doesn't really matter.

One winter I stumbled into a little field mouse and her litter of tiny pinks, bedded in insulation, under a well-cover deep in the Appalachian forest on a remote property. I was repairing broken water pipes, and I went to the van to get some tools and grab my camera. When I got back within minutes, the mouse and her babies were gone! I looked all around thinking they must have moved, since I uncovered them. They could not have gone far, considering the pinks were helpless and the tiny mom would have to drag them. As I looked around, I heard a subtle noise in the brush, and upon investigation, spied the dark brown scales of a juvenile Timber Rattler slithering away. He must have been nearby, and when I uncovered the mice, the Timber Rattler caught the scent immediately.

The point of the story is prey size and number. The rattler ate the little mouse mother and all the babies, all in one or two gulps. Perfectly HEALTHY and normal for the snake to eat a whole pile of smaller prey. I am sure it would have been just as healthy and fine for the rattler to eat a much bigger rodent, had the opportunity presented itself. And don't give me some nonsense about, "well, in the wild, they are not as healthy, blah, blah, blah." Snakes can eat all kinds of prey and flourish.

Great story Godzilla! These are stories that beginners like myself like to hear to understand what areas are important in the care of our animals and others that we may just be overthinking.