Asf mystery ???

Ok this has me stumped! I have a tub of ASFs with two adult females and a litter of babies. The babies are about 5 weeks old and I was planning to separate them in the next couple days as they are eating food and drinking from water bottles. Anyway, Becky came home today and found 11 newborn pinkies!! Now these females haven't been exposed to a male since the previous litter was born. Just for the sake of argument she rechecked the sex and sure enough both females. I am totally stumped.

It seems I have the worlds only asexually reproductive ASFs!! Lol:confused::confused:

Sounds like one of the "weaner's" knocked mama up. haha they don't just get prego.

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Originally Posted by BbyBoa

Sounds like one of the "weaner's" knocked mama up. haha they don't just get prego.

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:O :rofl:

Could she have already been pregnant and you just didn't know it?

I always leave my males in with the moms, but I have heard that they can retain sperm. I would wean the older babies. Sometimes they will hog all the mothers milk and the new ones won't get enough. Good luck with all the little ones!:)

Well if she was already pregnant she would have had to held the babies for over five weeks! And if the weaner knocked up mom then with gestation consider he wouldn't even have had his eyes open when he did it :O. I'm going with the holding sperm theory.

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Originally Posted by ScottNBecky

Well if she was already pregnant she would have had to held the babies for over five weeks! And if the weaner knocked up mom then with gestation consider he wouldn't even have had his eyes open when he did it :O. I'm going with the holding sperm theory.

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Haha guess I didnt read clearly, I didnt see that she already had Pinks! my bad, I just thought she got prego. :D

I think I'd lean more towards the 5 week idea then retaining sperm.

ASFs, and mice, can store semen in their bodies. It sounds weird, but it's true.

But a more likely scenario is that you have a male in the cage and didn't notice, or the original male knocked the ASF up right after her first litter, or one of the babies did it.

Question why did you remove the male? These arent like rat rats for the most parts where you can move the males around. With the asf's 99% of the time the females will kill the males when you try and return them.

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Originally Posted by village idiot

Question why did you remove the male? These arent like rat rats for the most parts where you can move the males around. With the asf's 99% of the time the females will kill the males when you try and return them.

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This is my question too.. You do realize that if the male is not raised with his breeding group of females and left to live with them permanently, he is much more likely to attack and kill or be attacked and killed. With these guys it's always recommended when starting a new colony to raise them together as babies and never introduce new adults to a colony or it will be a massacre.