African Soft Fur Rats

[TekWarren]

wolfy, I touched on this a little in another post I think...maybe not? Anyway I was doing something similiar. I was offering mine vegies daily and my litter numbers started decreasing slightly and the urine was increasing. I wanted to smack myself on the forehead after asking a buddy about it and realizing it as he told me. Most vegies and fruits have a high concentration of water...simply put: these rodents are not designed for nor do they require alot of water. I have recently cut off added foods outside of the block food I feed. I can't tell for sure yet if it has helped litter size as this change is recent, however the urine buildup/frequency has dropped back to normal (very little within a week's period).

Something to consider when your offering mixed food diet. I was also told initially that a *higher* protein content should be tried if small litters are had...I'm not sure this helps and I will be going back to a lower protein block when I am out of what I have.

Another tip: Others I have talked to have had better success with breeding when using tubs that are solid colors..not clear. All I use is clear so I have started introducing wooden hides into my tubs. I am just building crude "shacks" out of scrap wood, which serves as a hide as well as gnawing block. I offer some sort of wood (untreated of course) and they do gnaw on it considerably in ever tub.

[Emilio]

These african rats are getting more and more interesting.

[wolfy-hound]

Hey!! Youa re in Miami!! You could get mine! Come buy them!
Hahaa.
Wolfy

[Emilio]

Not quite yet my rats have me almost completely covered. But I might try them out soon, I will definitely check with you when I do.

[adizziedoll]

Now, if I had like maybe one colony for my picky eaters... do you think growing asf and domestic rats could be placed in the same "to be fed off" tub (obviously males and females seperated)? And when the females have babies, do you take the male out like d. rats (i assume you do, but thats just an assumption)

Just trying to figure out if i have enough room for these little buggers.

[TekWarren]

I would not attempt mixing species.

[Wolfsnaps]

I have a 1:2 ratio and my larger female gave birth to a litter of 12 for a first litter, not bad huh? All are doing well. Mine live in a ten gallon tank with aspen or pine bedding. They get fed lab block and senior wellness dogfood as a staple, and then also get various things like dried fruit,dry cereal,bread,nuts,bird seed,ect.I also add vitamins in their water. I only have a small amount of rats to deal with so I can spend more time and effort into getting them the good stuff...lol


Well, the other day I had my snake out and he was acting hungry. So when I put him back in his tank, I threw in an african rat pup with him to see if he would eat it. They are still small and blind but crawling around and fully furred. He seemed interested in it but didn't make a go for it.

SO I took the pup back out. But now it smelled like snake (it crawled all around in there). So I was worried that if I put the pup back in with it's family, they would reject him. So anyways, I held him under the faucet and rinsed him off with warm water. I considered using shampoo too but it was just too small. I put him back in with his parents and after much sniffing and licking, they were ok with his return (although I do believe I saw it's mother nip him).

So I am hoping that Stryker DOES eat these rats. I was led to believe that African soft furs are irrisistable to ball pythons but who knows? Maybe Stryker just doesnt GET IT yet. Maybe the pup was too small?? I don't know but he BETTER eat them, I am not going to be stuck with a gillion rats because he's being fussy. I might try peppering them with regular rat fur for flavor.....it worked when I swtiched from mice to rats. When this litter gets big enough I am going to try feeding them to stryker again. If he continually resists, the whole rat family is done for, I can't allow them to keep breeding. I will keep one of them though, she is a the nicest one and a very good babysitter.

I must say that they are good at defending their litters ferosciously

[TekWarren]

I think a common un-truth is that saying ball pythons "can't resist" asf's. It "may" be more likely to say that "most" will take to them. ASF's can be an awesome alternative food source, my snakes are doing great on them. Just like any other rodent a ball python may still refuse to eat ASF's.

[Wolfsnaps]

Well, if he keeps resisiting, I am tying one of these to one of his normal frozen/thawed rats so he takes both....


thats a last resort though. I think if I just try some of the old tricks, I will get him eating them.

[J.Vandegrift]

I have a 1:2 ratio and my larger female gave birth to a litter of 12 for a first litter, not bad huh? All are doing well. Mine live in a ten gallon tank with aspen or pine bedding. They get fed lab block and senior wellness dogfood as a staple, and then also get various things like dried fruit,dry cereal,bread,nuts,bird seed,ect.I also add vitamins in their water. I only have a small amount of rats to deal with so I can spend more time and effort into getting them the good stuff...lol


Well, the other day I had my snake out and he was acting hungry. So when I put him back in his tank, I threw in an african rat pup with him to see if he would eat it. They are still small and blind but crawling around and fully furred. He seemed interested in it but didn't make a go for it.

SO I took the pup back out. But now it smelled like snake (it crawled all around in there). So I was worried that if I put the pup back in with it's family, they would reject him. So anyways, I held him under the faucet and rinsed him off with warm water. I considered using shampoo too but it was just too small. I put him back in with his parents and after much sniffing and licking, they were ok with his return (although I do believe I saw it's mother nip him).

So I am hoping that Stryker DOES eat these rats. I was led to believe that African soft furs are irrisistable to ball pythons but who knows? Maybe Stryker just doesnt GET IT yet. Maybe the pup was too small?? I don't know but he BETTER eat them, I am not going to be stuck with a gillion rats because he's being fussy. I might try peppering them with regular rat fur for flavor.....it worked when I swtiched from mice to rats. When this litter gets big enough I am going to try feeding them to stryker again. If he continually resists, the whole rat family is done for, I can't allow them to keep breeding. I will keep one of them though, she is a the nicest one and a very good babysitter.

I must say that they are good at defending their litters ferosciously

How large is your snake? If the ASF rat had not even open it's eyes yet it must have been pretty small. I would bet it was just too small. My ASF rats usually have there eyes open by the time they are about the size of a small mouse hopper.