Ahhh... free from the weekly pet store bill

[Mike Cavanaugh]

fed off 22 devil dogs tonight! Lets see... if I had purchased them from the pet shop, that would have been $131.78!!!! (at $5.99 each) And just think... I was disapointed I was not able to feed more off!!!!

[TooManyToys]

Are these really as "non-smelly" as advertised?

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Are these really as "non-smelly" as advertised?

In a word... absolutely.

I have bred mice and I have bred rats. I did very well with both but I hated them both.... for the same reason I hated my dog when we had one, and my cats when we had some.... I can not stand some animal smells. Dog smell, cat litter smell, rat smell, mouse smell. They are all absolutely revolting to me. Must be my long history of allergies... or something with my programming. They just make me sick.

ASF's don't bother me at all. I change the substrate every 3 weeks just because it starts to look nasty. The Equine Fresh pine pellets I use turn completely to dust... and the ground gets covered with black poop pellets.... But still, even then, there is little to no smell.

[littleindiangirl]

I would say it's a different smell. It reminds me of some strang old scent. Not odorless, but different than rats or mice. Not over powering, but it is definitely an odor all right lol.

[cassandra]

I'm working on it...40 baby rats on the ground and growing...mice are moosing along...but it'll take a while to be able to cull jumbo rats. =P

[TooManyToys]

I would say it's a different smell. It reminds me of some strang old scent. Not odorless, but different than rats or mice. Not over powering, but it is definitely an odor all right lol.

So, not something you would want to keep in your snake room.

[frankykeno]

I would say it's a different smell. It reminds me of some strang old scent. Not odorless, but different than rats or mice. Not over powering, but it is definitely an odor all right lol.

For me if their enclosure gets dirty it smells like the dark, wet areas of an old forest...sort of musty, sort of mushroomy if that makes any sense at all. It's not a bad smell and not at all like the strong urine smell a dirty rat cage would get. It definitely means though that you need to be tending that enclosure. They are very clean little critters but like any animal isn't not nice to leave them to live atop their own old feces and urine.

[littleindiangirl]

For me if their enclosure gets dirty it smells like the dark, wet areas of an old forest...sort of musty, sort of mushroomy if that makes any sense at all.

That's the best description I've heard so far. I haven't been sitting around smelling their cage trying to peg it down, but that is definitely a very good description of the smell.

So, not something you would want to keep in your snake room.

I've kept all of my rats at one point or another in the snake room. No real difference.

[SapphireTigress]

Good points MBM.
BUT...just think...if ASF's aren't available in every pet store, but are available in YOUR store Mike....wouldn't that mean you have cornered the market on ASF's in your area?....and the local customers have to be repeat customers to buy their feeders only from You?....just sayin....

And ASFs don't stink nearly as bad! We've had a lot of success with 1:3 pairings and they're almost as good as gerbils when it comes to the smelliness. I keep telling my hub that we're in the wrong business, as he can sure crank out the babies! We've been supplementing a local pet store with mice and rats in exchange for goods. It's a sweet deal, and a future outlet for the normals to get a chance at good homes. It's just been nice to adopt a WC in a pet store who won't eat, bring her home, put her in a nice hide box, and she whacks the ASF.

[twh]

For me if their enclosure gets dirty it smells like the dark, wet areas of an old forest...sort of musty, sort of mushroomy if that makes any sense at all. It's not a bad smell and not at all like the strong urine smell a dirty rat cage would get. It definitely means though that you need to be tending that enclosure. own olThey are very clean little critters but like any animal isn't not nice to leave them to livd feces and urinee atop their .

joanna brings up a good point,are we changing the ASFR's bedding for our noses or there best interest ? it seems like some people see how long they can go between bedding changes as if whoever gets the most days wins.

if the smell isn't offensive to us that doesn't mean it is good for the young to breath ,espically in the "pee corners".

my polycarb cages have about the same footprint as a 10 gal. tank,which house 1.4 - 1.3 groups,i'm changeing the bedding every 6-9 days.

any thoughts?