I know rat owners who also own snakes. They feed frozen pinkies to their snakes. I know it's not how they eat in the wild but rats or mice can do damage to a snake so it's safer for the snake. I couldn't bring myself to feed a mouse or rat to a snake, even before I became a rat owner. Usually when rodents are sold as feeders, they are cheap, like $1.99 but when you see pet rats they are usually $7.99 and up. That's how pet stores keep the snake owners away. A lot of big chain stores like Petsmart will only sell rats or mice as pets.