That's so funny, I can just picture him getting the creepy-crawlies* from mouse whiskers. I never had any rattlesnakes require clean-shaven rodents from me.
*That would have made a great Gary Larsen cartoon- reminds me of the one he did of a bunch of rattlesnakes crowded into an underground cave & one says
"What was THAT? Something just touched me!" (-getting all creeped-out, lol). FYI, G.L. was also a snake-keeper...he got his insights first hand.
I rescued/re-located rattlesnakes for 20 years in So. Cal.- I kept some that were un-releaseable for whatever reasons (too long in captivity by others, mostly) and
did conservation talks with them (as well as w/ my harmless snakes). I miss them rattle-brats...& there's some here too, but I don't go out to catch & keep. I got
to play "road-guard" once for a huge timber rattlesnake...just moseying across the road. Beautiful.
BTW, I agree with your observation...in all the rattlesnakes I've known** I've never seen one rubbing their face/pushing on the screen tops to get out. I think
they're careful not to damage their faces. (**I lived in the desert, where snakes simply re-located without food & water first are unlikely to survive, so they first
spent some time at my "B & B".)
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