Rats are 100% recommended diet, if they will take them they will be much happier and healthier, as some have said they CAN eat mice, but you would need to feed an adult 4-5 adult mice to equal a full sized meal. I would urge you to try f/t and if you are not able to handle it, (and I mean this in no way to sound heartless) it is probably best to find a home that would. I also struggle with feeding rats, as I do not want to see any animal dead, but these are wild animals and rat eaters by nature. I always justify it as rats have a short lifespan and reproduce in large numbers essentially over night whereas the snake takes a lot more time, energy, and has about 8x the maximum life span of a rat. I know it is hard, but you need to do the best thing you can for the animal you brought into your home.