Rats are social and if you do choose to separate out the male, then you will need a male "buddy" to put with him. A lot of people that do this have a tub for males and a separate tub for females, then tubs for "grow outs" and smaller "birthing" tubs to put females in right before they have babies. Other people house a male and females together all the time but this can be harder since females can get pregnant right after birthing and this taxes their system. If keeping the babies until older, you will need 2 grow out tubs, (m/f) as they can breed at 5 weeks of age. I use bins with some of my rats and I put hardware cloth on the top and 2 of the sides. This really helps keep ammonia down (having it on the sides). and allows you to hang a water bottle normally and gives them more climbing space.

If you are keeping just one snake, bulk ordering f/t from a good dealer might be a better option for you... I use big cheese and perfect prey and order several months worth of feeders at once, it is much cheaper than buying from a store and the quality has always been good for me.

If you are open to trying that but might still want to have the rats, maybe keep them as "pets" for a while and get a handle on how much upkeep / work they are... Then you can decide if you want to breed your own.