My rat colony is in the basement, and I've had no issues. It's been there over a year. As long as you keep tubs reasonably clean and feed a quality diet they don't stink up the rest of the house. When people walk in upstairs, they don't say, "oh, you have animals!" here.

I think for the younger boas, breeding your own rats might be a good bet. I've got a few young'uns and for now they do just fine on rats. When they get bigger, I may add guinea pigs or rabbits to the feeders I'm breeding.