Tim, this is only my personal chioce and should only be viewed as such. I prefer NOT to breed rats and mice, especially if you only have a few ball pythons. My reasoning behind this preference is that by the time you add up the cost of food, and bedding, and add in the time you spend cleaning, it's cheaper to buy the frozen rats and mice in bulk. I did breed them in the past, but once my collection grew to a certain size, it was more cost efficient for me to NOT breed them...and less smellier too! Now, for large BP breeders who have the facilities to house thousands of rats, that's a whole different story