Here's a suggestion if you have the room/cooperation of people you live with. Use frozen rats. You can get them in every size from pups to colossal and they're usually cheaper than pet store rats especially if you have the room to buy in bulk. You don't have to worry about them hurting your snake either. Try the Big Apple Herp website - I've used them before and the rats have been clean and show up in good condition (nice and frozen - packed in dry ice). I went so far as to buy a small freezer dedicated to feeders because it will pay for itself in a couple of years feeding my snakes and now I don't have to worry about the family freaking out about the rats in the fridge. I think pet store rats go for around $4 each. Frozen medium rats are $19.00 for 20 or less than a dollar each. Figure around $30 for shipping. A 20 pack takes up 8% of a shipping box (they're vacuum sealed and take up surprisingly little space) so you can get 12 packs in a box or a full box of 240 medium rats for about a dollar a rat shipped($228 for rats plus $30 shipping = $258 for 240 medium rats). If you get a small freezer from home depot for around $150 that's still totals out to $1.70 a rat ($258 for rats 150 freezer = $308 / 240 rats = 1.70). The snake will probably outgrow medium rats before you use them all so I suggest you get a mix of medium and large, but you get the idea. Even with the cost of running the freezer, if you plan on raising this snake up, it makes economic sense.
Big Apple Herp - Rats

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