There was no reason why the rats needed to go as snake food. There are other alternatives to feeder tanks. There are humane societies and animal control. At least if they could not find a home they would be put to sleep humanely and not by the mouth of a snake. There are petstores that will take rats as pets. There was a big discussion about this lady on the Rat Fan CLub. She was obviously a breeder. By the sound of her post and having amazingly colored rats (russian blues and platinums are very sought after) I am sure she had no problem finding at least some of them good homes and if not I hope she at least cared enough about them to give them to the Humane Society instead of the petshop.