Well, I checked out TekWarrens afro-rat forum but I couldn't post on it (technical difficulties) so I thought I would ramble about my rats here

I am just getting started with these rats but hope to expand them later down the road. I will be putting my colony in a 20 long soon and using my crittertrail (which SUCKS to clean) as a maternity or hospital tank..whatever I need it for. I use pine as bedding but may switch to aspen.
For food I actually do use dog food....ok, hear me out. I bought a large bag of senior wellness (senior by mistake) and my dogs looked at me and laughed. I didn't want to waste it so I gave a few pieces to my rats. They flipped out over it. It has lower levels of protein (can't really remember off hand how much) and a lot of good stuff in it such as peas, etc. I tried lab block but all they seemed to do with it is throw it all over and pee on it...so much for that idea. I mix the dog food with high quality parrot mix and assorted lafaber products that my parrot doesn't want. I also feed Exact rodent food. They seem to like the fruity stuff. I also give them low fat, low sugar cereal as a treat from time to time and unsalted nuts. They get the odd piece of fruit (dried and fresh, I am big on fruit, as is the parrot) and the odd table scrap that is low fat/salt/sugar. They seem to be thriving on this mix. I also give them hard pasta pieces to chew on. They are growing and breeding and I coulnd't be happier.

So any other african soft furred rat owners want to share? My breeding is purely hobby and for my one snake so I don't have rack systems or anything big and fancy. They are my part time pets and Stryker's full time menu.