to me thats a interesting question as i havent invested too much money in my collection and i trade small med rats to local breeders for single gene morphs that i sell or keep so the feeding part is takin care of rats pay for them selves as well as a new single gene every now and then so im turning a lil profit already because of my rats and havent even had a clutch as of yet even though i have a normal who is going through prelay shed and another adult cinny bred to my mojave will go soon ,so i guess it really depends on how you look at profit -rats are not snakes but i would not be breeding the rats on such a big level if not for my ball python collection so to me its not a total loss more like a gain