ASF rats are the BOMB!!

I can't believe it! I have a year old female pastel that only has 23 meals in her lifetime. That's less than 1 meal a month. She is sooo picky that she only eats one hopper mouse a meal since her 4th month . I tried giving her rat fuzzies and she's afraid of it. For the past 5 months her weight was between 400-500g

I tried everything with no avail. I got my asf colony earlier and tried feeding her an adult sized asf. She got spooked and went inside her hide when I opened her tub so I thought she will not eat. I also gave her a mouse the other day and she didn't even bother. I placed the asf inside her tub and turned off the light and in 10 seconds..... BAM! She struck hard and ate an adult asf the size of a medium rat like candy! :banana:

:banana:congrats:banana:

Thanks!

ASFs have their uses, but the colonies I have worked with were mean as snot.

Congrats on the feed, however!

Thanks H! I heard they are mean that's why I used leather gloves when cleaning. There were pinkies already and I didn't want the mom to get pissed. They never bit me so I guess I got lucky that these guys are not the asf's from hell :D

When ASFs become more widely available as frozen feeders, I might consider switching my picky mojave over. Right now, they're relatively expensive when I can locate them as frozen feeders and it's less of a pain for me to make the weekly trek out for a live rat for Miss Persnickety. I wish RodentPro would start carrying them because they do come to the local monthly reptile sale.

I'm glad that your girl is feeding better.

Thanks! Why don't you try starting your own colony with 1 male: 3 females if you can find live ones in your area? They take longer to grow as breeders but once they breed, they are breeding machines. I just got 22 pinkies from one female and I got 10 breedable females. I plan on just growing up the pinkies to size and freeze them for lateruse since I only have one picky eater.

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Originally Posted by Redneck_Crow

When ASFs become more widely available as frozen feeders, I might consider switching my picky mojave over. Right now, they're relatively expensive when I can locate them as frozen feeders and it's less of a pain for me to make the weekly trek out for a live rat for Miss Persnickety. I wish RodentPro would start carrying them because they do come to the local monthly reptile sale.

I'm glad that your girl is feeding better.

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Originally Posted by rexrem

Thanks! Why don't you try starting your own colony with 1 male: 3 females if you can find live ones in your area? They take longer to grow as breeders but once they breed, they are breeding machines. I just got 22 pinkies from one female and I got 10 breedable females. I plan on just growing up the pinkies to size and freeze them for lateruse since I only have one picky eater.

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The reason I don't is plain and simple. I have 5 snakes, and 4 of them slam f/t rats with gusto. They are doing great--a couple of them are even a little too fat.

I'm not going to put up with the work and stink of a colony for one picky little princess. I'm certainly not going to take a chance that the other ones will become picky by feeding them ASFs. The picky snake will eventually get with the program and eat f/t rats or f/t ASFs (if they become available here) or she will be replaced by another mojave who isn't such a gourmet. I'm not even willing to go the live rat route indefinitely.

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

ASFs have their uses, but the colonies I have worked with were mean as snot.

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Congrats on her eating, try and switch her food up like every 3rd feeding throw a regular rat in there unless you will always have asf's available.

I have 3 breeding asf colonies and 5 total. One colony is simply a feeder colony. Of the 5 only 1 female has ever bit me, and a 1.1 breeder is actually so scared that they both run to the other side of the tank and I can pet their babies. But for the most part I can place my hand in the tank and pick up a group without even a nibble.

If you breed only your nice ASF's eventually you will have stock that is just as nice as rats. I do occasionally get a nip from one of mine, but not very often. They are all hand tame, and I have hundreds of them... The mean ones are the ones' that get a short life in my shop....
When I clean my feeder bins out(50-75 in each bin), I literally scoop up as many as I can with both hands, and I never get bit...