Got ASF's, questions about heat/food.

[Sasha2]

I just bought 2.4 ASF rats, still quite young. They came out of a nice warm rack to my cold basement in a 55 gallon tank.
I did put a CHE over the tank and insulated most of it for now. Do they need heat to breed if the room is around 50?
I bought some rat block and mixed it with dog food. But Ive read a few different things about diet. One says dog food, another says they prefer grains and low protein so not sure what the ideal diet is. Any ideas?
They did love the mixed fresh greens I put in, they ate all of it.

Anyway I got a couple hides, and some branches to chew on in there as well. I will probably split up the group in a bit although again Ive read that family groups dont fight if they have enough room, so am considering leaving them all together.

[PatrickT]

they are rodents. Dont feed them dog food...you can feed them anything from vegetables, greens, noodles, bread ect but not high protein. they will eat it but not very good for them.

[Minkness]

Actually, high protine is good for the females while they are prego and nursing. But they don't need a bunch.

[Humble308]

I feed my mice colony a variety of foods. You are what you eat, so spend a little cash on the nourishment of your critters and it will go a long way to the health and size of your babies.

I take a 40lb bag of bird seed and a 40 lb bag of deer corn and mix it in a plastic tub...if you shop around this mix would maybe cost you $10-15. When my females are pregnant and nursing I mix in dog food with meat chunks for protein, often times I will mix a raw or hardboiled egg and they go crazy for it. Rodents also appreciate fresh fruit and vegetables so any scraps that I don't compost go to my mice...Stuff like tater peelings, cucumber, carrots and every now and then apples as a treat.

I keep my critters in a plastic tub since every weekend I like to take them outside to get some fresh air while I clean their cage and toys. They seem to love this play time.

Take what you read on the internet with a grain of salt, I keep all 3 of my males together when I'm giving the females a break from getting poked and they get along just fine. It may be different for asf's but my experience has been that family groups are fine even for normal white mice. If I see a bully I cull the mouse, but I've only had two bullies and they were both females. On the heat issue, I keep my guys in the basement which hovers around 50-60 with a bedding of regular straw from the tractor supply. They burrow and play in this stuff and create a labyrinth of tunnels and nests; as well as keeping quite warm. Perhaps at temps lower than this they would need supplemental heat, but I'm not sure.

I'm sure I spend more money breeding my own mice for 4 snakes, but there is something very satisfying about finding a tub full of pinkies. My few snakes enjoy a feeder that's enriched with a more diverse diet than the big mouse factories, you can feed live, and you never get stuck in the situation of a mouse being too small or large since you can grow them exactly to what size you need.

Best of luck with your mice, keep us updated about your progress.

[Minkness]

I spent more money breeding mice for my 8 snakes than just buying frozen x.x

I no longer breed because the smell l, upkeep, and cost were just nt efficient for me. =/

[Sasha2]

I used to breed rats and mice when I had a big shed. But now Im stuck with a basement so thats why Im trying the ASF's since the smell is supposed to be minimal.
They are super cute and although skittish didnt bite me when I picked them up. I think I will feed them more like I did my mice. I know I had gobs of babies when I supplemented them with the chicken layer pellets(personally I think mice need more calcium/protein and thats what made the difference).

I have bought frozen this last year, but need more pinks but not 100 which is way to many and what Rodent pro makes you buy. (I would use big cheese rodent factory, which have smaller bags, but they never have large rats).

[Humble308]

Interesting, I'll have to give the chicken pellets a try. Especially since it's winter I see nothing wrong with beefing them up a bit for the cold :D.

Can I ask where you got your ASF's? I've been looking at local pet shops and my reptile show but no one seems to carry them. Wouldn't mind trying a 1.2 tub with them.

[Sasha2]

We had chickens at the time so it was easy to throw a scoop in the mouse tub. I also gave them alot of dandelions. Just make sure the chicken food isnt medicated.

I got mine at a really small reptile store in kansas, its just a small mom and pop style.
Doubt they would ship.

[travesty]

I feed my asf's Mazuri 6f and it seems to work pretty well. It's got yucca or something in it that's supposed to reduce the ammonia in their pee. Compared to regular rats and mice they smell way better. My ball python will hardly ever eat them though and I think its because they don't smell as much as rats. Luckily my kingsnakes don't mind. The pinkies are definitely a little bit bigger than mice's. Also, good call on keeping them warm. I keep mine 1.4 and keep separate male only/female only tubs once they're weaned. They usually won't breed until they're over 3 months old but they have pretty impressive litters. Overall, I like them, they're definitely fun.

What color variety do you have?

[Sasha2]

All of mine are white with either tan or brown spots.Its been two weeks and still very little smell, I changed them out today. I very happy they dont smell much. I just hope my corns will eat them or they will be useless.
Ive been bit already though so I wont be handling them much.

[prairiepanda]

When I bred gerbils they got lab blocks. Pregnant and nursing females(and their helper cagemates) got some non-medicated chicken feed mixed in. Fresh greens and bird seed were given as treats and for some mental stimulation. Weaned babies got seed mixes to adjust them to the type of diet they would likely be getting in their future homes, but I personally prefer a homogeneous diet because with seed mixes they pick through and just eat their favourites, making the most dominant gerbils fat and the least dominant ones underweight.

As for smell, I threw timothy hay in the cages to help with that. It smells nice and helps with the odour, and also provides mental stimulation(they love to rip it apart and mix it into the bedding). However, gerbils are waaaay less smelly than rats or mice so I'm not sure how well timothy hay would work for smellier animals. I've never smelled ASFs so I'm not sure how they compare to gerbils.

[travesty]

All of mine are white with either tan or brown spots.Its been two weeks and still very little smell, I changed them out today. I very happy they dont smell much. I just hope my corns will eat them or they will be useless.
Ive been bit already though so I wont be handling them much.

Yeah I clean weekly or so but more because it looks nasty than the smell. I've culled off the mean ones over time so I don't really have biters anymore.