ASF Rats

[candyraver69]

There was a post about ASF rats but it's very old and locked and didn't say a whole lot. Does anyone here have experience breeding or feeding these to their snakes? I am seeing these mentioned all over the place all of a sudden particularly related to balls that don't want to eat. I guess they are native of Africa and available frozen or live from limited places, and somewhere between mice and rats in size.

[shaunyboy]

over here a lot of people use multi mammots to get non feeders eating

they look like a cross between a mouse and a rat.they are not though they are a sperate breed of their own

they seemingly give off a lot of scent.thats why the non feeders go for them i think they must taste quite good as the snakes love them.

its hard to get a snake back off them though also they're more expensive than rats and mice are over here.

asf ? i personally have never heard of

cheers shaun

[candyraver69]

asf= african soft-furred. I think they are the same as what you are talking about "Natal Multimammate Mouse" is the name some people use.

[candyraver69]

found a local breeder and I am getting some tomorrow :D I am going to make an attempt to breed good temperament into them so they can be kept as pets but it's going to take generations. I've heard of people in the UK managing it so it has to be possible.

[annieb_mice]

It won't take too long to breed for good temperament. It helps if you are able to handle the babies (if the moms will allow that). You can also breed for colour too. :) ASF's are fun to work with.

[Jenn_06]

i was told they are alittle mean but have large litters, i was thinking about getting me a pair but i cant find a female :( just males and they say they dont smell that bad as normal rats do.

[maitre]

I have a small project going on right now. Started with 1:3 and they just dropped 46 babies two weeks ago! The females are pregnant again (apparently they mate within hours after giving birth) so the male is going to a new home this sunday - namely, my ball python's belly.

Compared to Norwegians, ASF's are a little more bitey. I interacted with my colony daily so they're used to my presence and any petting. I've only gotten bitten when I first got them and the day after they gave birth to their young. Other than that, if you always present them with some sort of treat when you are interacting with them, they will look forword to you and tame down.

If your snake is currently taking norwegians (normal domesticated rat in north america), keep him/her on them. My bp stopped eating for 7 months (I know..) and the only way I got her started feeding again was with ASF's. She's taking norwegians again but won't touch F/T.. so I'm planning to try to get her started on F/T again using ASF's. Once she takes F/T ASF, hopefully she can transition to F/T norwegians.

[candyraver69]

Well I picked them up and I guess the breeder handled them a good bit when they were growing because they don't bite at all. They still don't like being held but that part I can work on. If they are anything like norwegian rats these ones will never enjoy being held but learn to tolerate it, and after a few generations I should be able to get some that actually enjoy time out of the cage and like people, or I can cheat and sneak a pinkie in with a nursing momma rat. It's partially genetic but learned behavior is a huge part of it too. If the see mom dart for the hide the second someone goes near the cage they learn that people mean danger or annoyance. If they see mom run up to the door and greet me, they learn that play time outside the cage is awesome and they should like it.

I could definitely see the downside to feeding these guys to a snake and then having the snake reject everything else. However, being the size that they are and the serious difference in smell I can also see why someone owning a bp or similar sized snake would love to breed these instead of norwegians if they were breeding their own food. If you are buying f/t the price difference is insane and not worth it except to get a non-eater to eat.

Also one thing I have to figure out is the proper way to breed them using pet breeding standards verses food standards. I've heard mixed things about removing pregnant females from the colony to give birth and nurse so they don't get pregnant immediately after birth. Some people swear that you can't put one back into the colony once removed, other people say its fine as long as there is no nursing young present in the colony (which there wouldn't be). I'm willing to bet the first group of people haven't tried introducing them while there are no babies or tried proper introduction techniques because it's a hassle, but we'll see. Colony breeding makes sense for food breeding, but even then you still want to control it to a point to avoid having more food than you know what to do with.