Actually, rats are a LOT cleaner than mice. The smell is less (unless you have a ton of males and you don't clean regularly), and they are typically easier to handle.

However, unless you have a source that can buy up extras or your snakes mostly take frozen/thawed prey, rats aren't as worth raising since they get too big as adults for any but the largest female BP.

If you have access to ASFs and don't mind territorial, bitey little monsters, then those would be a great option for you to breed.