Breeding your own rats is definately the best way to save money. where i'm at small rats are $4 and mediums are $5 and thats at the cheapest local spot i know of. so i breed my own and feed 24 snakes a week and it costs less then $10 to keep them fed and in fresh bedding. so i would say for 10 snakes you could most likely breed your own for $300 or so per year. more the first year of course because of building rat racks and such but still way cheaper.