Egg-eaters and Chicken Snakes

Question
My question is two-fold.  My boyfriend has always wanted a snake that he can feed eggs instead of rodents (we keep mice, so it's unnerving).  In researching the egg-eating snakes, my preference for strange snakes took over, and I successfully tracked down a dasypeltis scabra and really want it (I have egg-laying finches, so food supply isn't a problem).  He's worried it's too small, though, so how big do these guys get?  I can't for the life of me find any pictures with size reference, and we had a 3 foot pencil thin ribbon snake before that he thought would be too thin/petite to have again.

In keeping with the egg-eating search, he then decided he wants to try a rat snake so he can feed it chicken eggs, like they steal at our friend's ranch.  Is that any kind of rounded out diet, or do ratsnakes in captivity require rodents?  Can you even convince a captive bred ratsnake to eat a non-motile thing like an egg?  Is the shell dangerous to it?  If any ratsnake WILL eat them, at least occasionally, is there any specific species that would be his best bet?  I know there are a lot of them out there, and don't really know what would be most suited to swallowing or getting anything out of chicken eggs.  If this is a bad idea, then what ratsnake would you recommend for a rodent diet instead, that is as large and sociable as possible for this kind of snake?

Thank you in advance!

Answer
OK, I can't help you w/ the D. scabra.  I have never owned one or even seen one outside of books.  As to the rat snakes.  Many will eat chicken eggs (FRESH chicken eggs-like REALLY FRESH-like you'd better own the chicken and be waiting on it to pop out fresh...).  BUT!  Don't despair because almost all of them will eat frozen thawed mice and rats.  I would not think that eggs alone would be a balanced diet.  If you can handle frozen rodents any rat snake will, I'd recommend a red rat also called a corn snake.  If you must try a strict egg diet w/ a rat snake I'd go for a yellow rat.  ALmost everyone I have in my collection has been collected from my neighbor's chicken coop.  $20-30 plus shipping to your door if you'd like me to send you one.  I have eggs due to hatch in a few weeks and those would only be $12 plus shipping.