ASF will this ever pan out???

[CloudtheBoa]

"What was your regimen for selective breeding?"

Simple, if my kids say this one is mean... it gets gassed. I run a 1/3 colony otherwise it can get crowded.
I handle them from pinks up. I won't gas a mom for biting while I'm stealing babies. That's moms job. I do gas if I put my hand in a cage an the little demon runs up an bites me. By handling from day one the little guys get calm as anything.

To start a new colony just leave them in with the old one. Once they are bred an ready to drop you have three options.

1) Just pull your new 1/3 colony out.
2) Make the new colony a mix of the old one.
3) Leave them in. The old moms will help raise them. But at three weeks take the new colony to the new cage.

Now, when I have too many (I just get more snakes ) I put them in a six foot empty metal water trough. I've had 100 in it once. Then it's gas or buy/make more racks.

Small rack that got too big here:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...izes-(gas-day)
I should have pulled more out before they got to 30g.


What should always be in a healthy rack:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...4-Snake-crack!

Good luck!
An the offer stands for a colony or two if you ever get up North.

Well, what finally worked was keeping every single grow out together until some females started getting pregnant. I separated out the 3 most heavily pregnant females that weren’t aggressive, and the least squirrelly male. They’ve all since given birth and continue to be non biters. Just like their parents, I can reach in without fear of getting bit, and they’re producing like crazy. The previous holdback colony I had started biting any time I stuck my hand in there for more than dropping food, and 3 adults just dropped dead. They also weren’t producing much. I think between being stressed and possibly unhealthy it just wasn’t meant to be. But like I said this new 1:3 colony has been as much of a dream as their parents!

Personally, I feel defending young is a cullable offense. Especially since that clearly can be bred out - these grow outs have had almost no interaction beyond cleaning and feeding and still are behaving. I handled them from pinks, but (so far) once their eyes open they start freaking out and I don’t want to get bit so I stop.

I should never have to worry about getting bit, so I’m going to aim for that. Hopefully as I get more colonies like my current two, the bitey ones will become less and less frequent.

Other than that, it doesn’t sound like we do much different. I do plan to visit up north occasionally to see family so I’ll keep that in mind if something happens and I need new stock.


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[Derby]

My second generation asf colonies are now producing, I have about 60 in various stages, thanks for the tips and encouragement, looks to be panning out.

[CloudtheBoa]

My second generation asf colonies are now producing, I have about 60 in various stages, thanks for the tips and encouragement, looks to be panning out.

Good to hear! They’ve proven to be a tricky species to work with, but hopefully both of us have better luck now.


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