I got my female rats from Petsmart and Petco. Those are the only places that sold female rats around my area. Cute dumbo rats too! :gj: To come to think of it, they do produce less than 9 pups at a time.
I have 4 picky ball pythons that would only eat live rats so I have 1:3 rats going. I don't mind them having less pups since I don't need that many. The hardest part for me would be feeding them off since they're so darn CUTE!!!:rage: