well i too breed my own rats and my 5 almost 6 year oldson not only watches me feed but helps me out sometimes he has even feed them once or twice and he love animals. in fact over the weekend just befor bed he started crying for no reason and when we got it out of him why he was crying he said that he was thinking of his old hamster teddy and he was sad. but he knows what snakes eat and he seems fine with it even to the point of jumping around when he get to help.