new to asf need advice

I picked up 2 breeding groups about 2 weeks ago(1.3 plus a litter of pups and 1.2). About a week later I found the male dead and partially consumed. Everyone seemed fine that morning when I checked on them, and found him a few hours later. Any ideas on what might have happened? My next question is can I integrate the two groups after the pups are weaned, or will that cause too many issues? I can try to get a new male from the breeder I got them from if need be. Any advice is appreciated.

I wouldn't merge the groups. Keep the one you have no problems with the way it is. Introducing a new male can be tricky. Remove everybody, totally clean cage, then put them all back together, with new male. I have also heard that dabbing vanilla extract on their noses helps. We did this when we introduced a new female. Not sure if it made a difference or not, but all ours went together fine.

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Good advice, don't merge. Sometimes this happens. The vanilla trick works every time. FYI you can get the really cheap imitation crap vanilla at the dollar store. Works perfectly, put 25 growouts together last week from 2 different groups with the vanilla trick.

Thanks guys. I'll try to contact the guy I got these guys from to see if he's got an extra male. If not I'll keep looking.