Size and temperment breeding?
So I only own ball pythons. Though I'm giving up rat breeding, I was wondering two things:
1. Is anyone trying to tame ASF's?
There was that silver fox study and I hear they are usually nasty.
2. Are people breeding your average rat smaller for ball python eating? Or does everyone have a larger snake to take care of the issue?
I would think it would be a bit advantageous to have smaller rats that have a maximum size suited for an adult ball python.
I tried this with some success, but I didn't have new rats to introduce to help it along... Originally, fancy rats were bred bigger, so smaller can't be that difficult.
I'd be interested in both breeding projects and their advancements...
Size and temperment breeding?
My carpet takes care of any thing I let grow past 250 grams since that's top ball size right now otherwise co2 chamber and sell off the remainder. My carpet has been on a weird eatting pattern even tho offered all time so I may need another big snake lol. I run 3-9 or 5-13 depending on how I'm feeling the people who buy frozen are gonna be a month down the line lol normally I guess to low
Re: Size and temperment breeding?
There are several people who breed ASFs and have successfully been able to handle them without issue. There's a breeder on here (I think they're still on here..) who does, as well as several videos and websites you can find on the internet where they have trained ASFs to do tricks and the like. It takes significant generations of "tameness" to get the full effect, but it is and has been proven possible.
As for the adult rat size, I would say that would probably be taken care of with dwarf rats. If I remember correctly, dwarf rats stay about half to three quarters the size of an adult fancy rat, but they aren't very popular in the general community. Mostly intense or long time breeders have them. I would love to get my hands on a few, but that would require driving a distance that I'm just not willing to go. Ohwell. We'll see.
Sorry for the lack of links/credible info. Need sleep.