You definitely need to have money available when trying to start a breeding colony. Breeders and babies consume a lot of food, and if you don't provide a good diet, they are not going to produce as well for you, and you'll just end up with unhealthy rats that cost you more money in the long term. To give you an idea of cost, it has cost me about $180 to set up my colony of 16 females and 3 males, and that's not including the price of building the rack. I've been breeding since November, and they've only just recently paid off the initial set-up by selling my extras to a friend. The rack isn't paid off yet, but I expect it to be within another month.