Josh you might want to have a look at a sticky here in Feeders about a rat colony when you have little space. I originally did it to show Robin how I set up a smaller colony and it might be of some help to you. There's also another one by me on bigger rat tubs and well as a number of fantastic stickies on rat racks, etc. by our other members.

I agree with Robin. You want to grab a couple of nice just weaned females, raise them up to about 4.5 months of age or about 250 grams and then introduce them to a nice young healthy male rat. Don't fall into the mistake of buying big rats from pet stores. They are often used up breeders or just big old rats that won't give you a very long productive breeding life plus most have never been handled and you just do not want to deal with a big mean breeder rat believe me.

If possible try to find a person that breeds rats for their snakes, their rats will likely be better than what you could find in a pet store. Some snake shows have rodent vendors as well.

Pick healthy rats much like you'd pick a healthy puppy or kitten. Clear eyes, clear nose & ears, nice fur with no scabby skin under it, no sneezing, wheezing or red discharge from nose or eyes, dry butt, no sore on tail or bottoms of the feet....that sort of stuff. Healthy rats make healthy feeders.

Becky has a wonderful sticky on a homemade dry rat mix. I've always used it and found it to be very good.