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  1. #1
    Registered User Kilo's Avatar
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    African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    I recently obtained a male african soft fur male and will be getting a female when a friends female drops another litter.

    I was wondering why most major breeder are not breeding them and using them as food?

    Why does every raise the big (normal) rats and hope they can keep the weanlings the size needed to feed off?

    Is it bad to raise bp's (and other snakes) with ASF then turn around and sell them to someone who does not have access to them?

    I mainly want to understand why ASF aren't higher in demand and more breeders using them? I personally would love to raise and breed them for food due to the fact there max size if perfect for a bps entire life... can we get a pro/con thing going or something?
    Last edited by JLC; 01-26-2007 at 04:25 PM. Reason: fixing typos at member's request
    -Kyle
    Green = 8 Ball Python
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    1.1 100% Het Albino and Homo Albino
    1.1 100% Het Butterscotch/Yellow Hypo
    0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa

  2. #2
    BPnet Veteran monk90222's Avatar
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    Re: African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    I agree, What is the deal with these guys.....Do they have large litters?....I'd love to know...any possibly start a little breeding project!!

  3. #3
    Don't Push My Buttons JLC's Avatar
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    Re: African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    Well, here's how I see it....from my rather limited point of view...


    I was wondering why most major breeder are not breeding them and using them as food?
    Because standard rats are far more easily obtained and breed in far more prolific numbers. Also...breeders are breeding in order to sell their animals to the general public. If an "imprint" feeder like a BP has been raised on a very specific and hard-to-get (quite impossible to get for most!) rodent...how likely is it they will sell those animals?

    Is it bad to raise bp's (and other snakes) with ASF then turn around and sell them to someone who does not have access to them?
    I would say so! Bad for both the customer AND the animals involved. How sad would it be for a beginner to buy a beautiful little BP and have done all their research and have the enclosure set up properly and still have it refuse to eat? Would the new owner even know why??? And how sad for the snake to slowly starve for lack of "proper" food?

    That's not to say it's entirely impossible to switch a BP from one to another...buy why should the customer have to take that risk and put both themselves and the animal through that much stress and aggrivation? (And still face the risk of starvation in the end?)

    Why does every raise the big (normal) rats and hope they can keep the weanlings the size needed to feed off?
    For all the reasons I stated above.
    -- Judy

  4. #4
    Registered User Kilo's Avatar
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    Re: African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    Quote Originally Posted by JLC
    Well, here's how I see it....from my rather limited point of view...




    Because standard rats are far more easily obtained and breed in far more prolific numbers. Also...breeders are breeding in order to sell their animals to the general public. If an "imprint" feeder like a BP has been raised on a very specific and hard-to-get (quite impossible to get for most!) rodent...how likely is it they will sell those animals?



    I would say so! Bad for both the customer AND the animals involved. How sad would it be for a beginner to buy a beautiful little BP and have done all their research and have the enclosure set up properly and still have it refuse to eat? Would the new owner even know why??? And how sad for the snake to slowly starve for lack of "proper" food?

    That's not to say it's entirely impossible to switch a BP from one to another...buy why should the customer have to take that risk and put both themselves and the animal through that much stress and aggrivation? (And still face the risk of starvation in the end?)



    For all the reasons I stated above.
    Well then due to they are perfect size for feeding bp's why wouldn't a breeder raise there "keepers" on ASF and raise the hatchlings to mice that they would like to sell? That way no one would ever need those BIG rats! Just confuses me..

    Would I be wrong to raise all my future breeders on AFS and all of ther offspring on mice? (the ones I want to sell)

    EDIT: CRAP! can you fix my first post pleases Judy? I meant for it to say "aren't high in demand" and also change AFS to ASF.
    -Kyle
    Green = 8 Ball Python
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    1.1 100% Het Albino and Homo Albino
    1.1 100% Het Butterscotch/Yellow Hypo
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  5. #5
    Don't Push My Buttons JLC's Avatar
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    Re: African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    Quote Originally Posted by Kilo
    Well then due to they are perfect size for feeding bp's why wouldn't a breeder raise there "keepers" on ASF and raise the hatchlings to mice that they would like to sell? That way no one would ever need those BIG rats! Just confuses me..

    Would I be wrong to raise all my future breeders on AFS and all of ther offspring on mice? (the ones I want to sell)

    EDIT: CRAP! can you fix my first post pleases Judy? I meant for it to say "aren't high in demand" and also change AFS to ASF.
    I suppose if you're sure you'd never want to sell your breeders. It's up to you what you want to feed them. I don't know enough about these rodents to argue logistics such as what litter sizes (although I do believe they are much smaller per litter than rats) they have and how easy they are to raise. But it still seems to me like rats are far more convenient than either specialized rodents OR mice.
    -- Judy

  6. #6
    BPnet Veteran SnakeySnakeSnake's Avatar
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    Re: African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    How long do ASF's take to get to 50 grams?

    From birth to 50 grams my rats take 3.5-4 weeks.

    That would be my main guess, if it takes the ASF's longer to get to adult size?

    That they grow too big too fast can be annoying, but thats what gas + freeze is for.
    bryan

  7. #7
    Registered User Kilo's Avatar
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    Re: African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    Quote Originally Posted by JLC
    I suppose if you're sure you'd never want to sell your breeders. It's up to you what you want to feed them. I don't know enough about these rodents to argue logistics such as what litter sizes (although I do believe they are much smaller per litter than rats) they have and how easy they are to raise. But it still seems to me like rats are far more convenient than either specialized rodents OR mice.
    ASF are spreading around though... I just saw a thread started by "Wild Bill" who is picking up 10 trios and a couple other post fomr people looking to get some from him. Do you think that ASF have the potential to push regular rats out of the picture when it comes to feeding and that snakes will sold as ASF eaters?

    Anyone else care to join in and share there opinion... please do so!
    -Kyle
    Green = 8 Ball Python
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    1.1 100% Het Albino and Homo Albino
    1.1 100% Het Butterscotch/Yellow Hypo
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  8. #8
    Don't Push My Buttons JLC's Avatar
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    Re: African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    Quote Originally Posted by Kilo
    Do you think that ASF have the potential to push regular rats out of the picture when it comes to feeding and that snakes will sold as ASF eaters?
    Personally...I seriously doubt it. It's a fad. Just because a few individuals that you see in a very tiny subset of the population are interested in these rodents doesn't mean there's an overwhelming tidal-wave of "ASF" about to change the BP market.

    Perhaps a few dozen people will try them out and see how it goes. A handful of people deal in imported wild caughts and find ASF easier to feed than standard rodents. But hundreds of thousands of people buy normal ball pythons and want to feed them food they can find on any given day at the pet store.

    Granted, this is just my personal perspective on the matter. I'm by no means an expert either on the market nor on these rodents. But for me and my snakes...we'll stick to rats and mice.
    -- Judy

  9. #9
    BPnet Veteran Wild Bill's Avatar
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    Re: African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    African soft fur rats are steadily becoming more available. With that, the price is dropping very quickly ($10/trio). It won't be long before they are the same price as regular mice and rats. From what I have read and asked of breeders, their litter size is comparable to that of standard rats. I believe in the future most rodent breeders will also carry ASF. I'm not sure on how fast they reach adult size, but I do know breeder sets will consume a lot less food than a breeding set of large rats. The benefit that they will never outgrow food size for my ball pythons is just a plus for me. I don't plan on switching all my snakes to these, right now just going to give them a try. I have talked to a couple of bp breeders that have tryed ASF rats and have had great success with them and are considering switching more animals to them. Most will keep regular rats and mice to feed to babies that will be sold.
    "Wild" Bill Hicok

    Wild Bill's Ball Pythons



  10. #10
    BPnet Veteran Pork Chops N' Corn Bread's Avatar
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    Re: African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

    Quote Originally Posted by Kilo
    Why does every raise the big (normal) rats and hope they can keep the weanlings the size needed to feed off?
    Because us boa keepers need the retired breeders to keep our fat boas happy!
    ~Jake~
    Too many boas to list and a few balls as well

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