Anybody have data / opinions on Wheels???

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Lol!!!

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Well, I took the wheels out a few days ago to observe the differences. Tonight they went back in!!

In two of the tanks they pulled all of the lab blocks out of the hoppers, and chewed them up and spit them out! I have never had this happen before

In another tank they destroyed a water bottle ( I use 10oz almost egg shaped plastic bottles that are almost impossible to get a tooth on)

In another tank one of the females had an open wound that was bad enough for me to have to feed her off. (guessing she got in a fight with a cage mate)

In another tank 12 babies dissapeared over night.

And tonight in all the tanks... even though the wheels have have been gone for days, the males were still jumping up in the air where the wheels used to be... Just trying to do their favorite thing...

Lesson learned.... If they are used to a wheel and are producing well and are happy... let them keep their dam wheel!!!

[frankykeno]

Just be glad Mike that they aren't intelligent enough to make little protest signs to march around the tank with. You do NOT want unionized, ticked off ASF's!

[littleindiangirl]

Well, I took the wheels out a few days ago to observe the differences. Tonight they went back in!!

In two of the tanks they pulled all of the lab blocks out of the hoppers, and chewed them up and spit them out! I have never had this happen before

In another tank they destroyed a water bottle ( I use 10oz almost egg shaped plastic bottles that are almost impossible to get a tooth on)

In another tank one of the females had an open wound that was bad enough for me to have to feed her off. (guessing she got in a fight with a cage mate)

In another tank 12 babies dissapeared over night.

And tonight in all the tanks... even though the wheels have have been gone for days, the males were still jumping up in the air where the wheels used to be... Just trying to do their favorite thing...

Lesson learned.... If they are used to a wheel and are producing well and are happy... let them keep their dam wheel!!!

Mike that is so strange you talk about them chewing up all the food.

I had just separated the breeding group that I wanted to sell, and put the male back in with the others. He was being a pain the behind with the other males, so we put him in a maternity tub over night to cool off.

Overnight he chewed up ALL of his food, and left these little crumbles everywhere. Then he went and began to chew some of the wood that separates the food from the rest of the tub through the hardware cloth.

The guy went nuts, I couldnt believe he freaked out so much by just removing him into a tub by himself with nothing to do.

So yea, I'm keeping the wheels too!

[Mike Cavanaugh]

LOL!

People have no idea how amazing these animals are. Such a complex social structure... and now as we have discovered, they are totally capable of temper tantrums!

[blackcrystal22]

I think if they start out with wheels they should keep them.

I keep my ASFs in groups of 4 or 5 with one male to a group.

One of my cages is too small for a wheel and just never got one. Right now I'm testing a new hopper in it, but the mesh is a bit small so I'm unsure if they can get through it or not.

My point being, I think that once you give them wheels, they may get upset if you take them away, but they probably don't know the difference if they never had them in the first place. I also think the additional exercise is probably healthy.