Young medium rats and quails will reduce the fat intake you give your reptiles.
I never feed my snake large adult rats for that very reason.
My exbreeders are normally frozen and given to my females after they have laid their eggs to put some condition back on quickly, then its med's all the way.
mate basically it goes either way half say yes they need it and half say no at the end of the day any kind of uv lighting is guna be great for the snake either with a light or exposure to the sun i dont have uv lighting and i have many that are in perfect health and breed well but when i can i get them a few hours of sun i no people that have had them for many many years with no uv and they have done just fine