I have successfully fed day-old chicks to yearling ball pythons many years ago. They can handle them with no problem at all. So, if you need to switch, chicks would be an acceptable alternative--you may need to do a bit of work to get the python to accept them. At the time, one of my pythons took the chick on the first try, and the other did not.
Chicken chicks grow VERY fast, so you may want to kill and freeze any that aren't eaten immediately. Quail chicks may be a good choice to give you more time to work with, as they don't grow nearly as large. If you can get your snake to take them, and then switch to frozen/thawed, you shouldn't have any problems ordering them in bulk online. If you're concerned about nutrition, dust a little calcium on them. For the most part, though, they will provide complete nutrition--the droppings may be looser and stinkier on a bird diet.
The chicks are probably your best option for avoiding cross-contamination. You may want to take the added precaution of sterilizing anything in your home that may have come in contact with a rat, as mycoplasma is a pretty pervasive organism.
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