Former big box pet store employee here.
I can tell you that most of the 'fancy' rats we received were always delivered to us in overcrowded carriers and you would be able to see urine staining on many of the paler ones. The conditions were probably only slightly better than the 'normal/feeder' rats.
There really is no way to be 100% sure on how the animals are maintained without seeing the facility. Even some small breeders can have terrible conditions or practices. Most rats will have mycoplasma, regardless of it being fancy or feeder. So URIs can happen at the drop of a hat, even with the best care.
I should add in that most of my best pet rats were 'feeder' stock. I've also had some terrible tempered fancy rats.... but that's fairly rare for rats in general.
For frozen feeders, I've been using Rodentpro and they seem to be fairly well kept. Honestly I have not questioned them on the process or facility though.
@Bogertophis I bred a couple silky coat mice YEARS ago. I ended up giving up on the project because the females were being terrible mothers and I didn't want to continue breeding mice with that kind of trait. Those coats are beautiful, but man can they get tangled up in bedding or dirty quick.
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