$1500 for 10? That seems a little bit steep unless you are paying a solid 3 bucks a head for rats. In which case, buy in bulk frozen and save yourself a lot of money. I'd say you're closer to the mark of 900 a year just in feeding cost IF you have to order multiple shipments through out the year instead of ordering the bulk of your food. $1500 with say 7 females should not be hard to recoup IMO. Heck drop 1k on a male Champagne and you'll be recovering cost in a lot less time since they are new enough that they will probably stay above $500 per ball for the next 2-3 years. Again, IF you are into those morphs :-) If you plan to only do live, invest a little more upfront and get a breeding colony together, and you should be able to keep your cost a lot lower in the end, but it will lengthen the initial time for a ROI.