I keep my rats in my bedroom... not really by choice but it's just the best place I have for them at the moment. I have a 5-tub high rack system with an automatic watering system. They do get stinky. I change the bedding usually twice a week just depending on the amount of babies and the smell. The adult male rats can really stink the place up. I usually only keep two adult male rats and just rotate females through them. When a female appears pregnant I put her in a tub with a nursing mother or other pregnant females. I top off their food usually every time I change the bedding. I use shredded aspen. Every so often the tubs look to me like they deserve to be washed out, so I do so at my discretion. I usually sleep just fine even with the noise. Most of the time, right when I turn out the light they shuffle around and maybe bicker for a minute before settling down. Newborn pinks will usually squeak for the first day or so after they are born. I sleep like a rock so they don't really bother me. Putting a fan in your window that sucks the air out of the room would cut down the smell almost 100% for sure. I am working on getting a shed for them to live in the back yard just because I'm tired of the smell. But they are still fun to have and very rewarding when they are happy and producing babies for you.

I also have a trio of the African soft furreds. I have them in a 10-gallon tank and I change the bedding every 1 or 2 weeks. I also wash the aquarium at that time because I really hate looking at dirty glass... hahaha. They do not produce the strong ammonia smell like the big rats, but they do build up a certain musky smell if you go too long before changing the bedding. The only downside to them is that they do grow rather slowly, and you will have to wait longer to feed them off. On the flipside, they will never outgrow your adult ball pythons, so you shouldn't run into a problem where you are overrun with feeders that are too large for your snakes. These rodents are also pretty cool to have, and although they have a fierce reputation, I haven't had an incident where I've been bitten, but I do not try to cuddle them or anything either.