What did you decide on, are you still going to wait?
Around here I pay anywhere from $3-5 for a rat. Local breeders are further away, slightly less and try to buy from them first rather than a store.
I've been bitten a few times, but they were just the females warning to stay away from their babies so it didn't draw blood.
Waiting patiently for some asf's to get bigger to start feeding off on a daily basis. Almost wish I had gone with fancy but choose the asf's due to everyone saying the smell was not as bad.