African Soft Furred Rats, or asf rats are the native food for african pythons.
The are also called natal rats, or multi mammate mouse, but they say they are different from mice.
The main differences I see, as well as smell, is they don't stink like mice. They haven't been cannabalistic, at all. I was told that if they give birth to a disfigured or handicapped baby they will eat it, or kill it, but I've not had a problem yet.
I had a problem getting my mice to breed, they never did and ended up killing each other, but these asf's breed like crazy, so no worries about pinkies and small feeders anymore.
Only problem is, I kinda like the little guys, and they are funny to watch, so I'm letting the young that are too large for my small snakes survive to breed when they get mature enough, but I feel that will overrun me, but I have a freezer...
I got a 5 adults a couple weeks ago, a breeding trio of one male two females,
and a pair that hasn't yet bred of a male and female new adults.
The trio had 12 young with them, and as I was buying them one of the females was giving birth to 8 more babies.
I went out and bought 9 pinky size fuzzies from another woman and then a adult female that was pregnant so she could nurse the 9 new that I didn't feed off, and she dropped a litter the next day, so I have about 40 of these guys altogether.
They asf's are extremely protective of their young. The are nippy and do bite when you put your hand in where they have young.
I will say though, that when I bought the fuzzies the lady that pulled they just pushed the adult out of the way and she didn't get bit. I was told by others that she has alot nicer rats than most of the other bloodlines.
When I was 'introducing' myself to my breeding trio I put my finger down so they could get my scent and the male bit me. Didn't take a chunk but the place he bit did let blood out.
When I offered a pinky to my corn it was ignored, but I had fed the corn about a week before, and it probably wasn't hungry, but I wonder if corns just aren't as interested in them as the pythons.
I've also heard they pythons can get 'addicted' to the asf's, but I also heard that snakes that won't eat for months will break the fast for a asf.
Them not being cannabalistic or killing each other, and not smelling bad, and being prolific breeders of feeders is why I went with them. They do get a bit larger than mice when adults, but not a whole lot.
They are illegal to have in some states, like california, but not here. I saw a list with some states listed, and it told where some of the states where they are not allowed, but didn't list info on all states.
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