New ASF Breeding Group

I got my first ASF breeding group today. I decided to go with 1.3 for my test run, and will see how things go. I purchased them from a local guy here in Orlando, and got a pretty good deal on them I think.

So here they are:

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...9.jpg~original

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...f.jpg~original

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...7.jpg~original

They aren't even the slightest bit aggressive, but they certainly are spring loaded and much faster than I expected. I'm not entirely sure how old they are, or how long it will be before they start making babies but I'm in no rush so I'm just going to let them do their own thing.

My first impressions are very positive. If things stay this good I think I'm going to have to design/build a rack!

Thanks for reading. As always any comments/concerns/questions are welcome.

Good luck! Nice looking animals. I've had them for several years, if you need help, let me know.

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Originally Posted by Don

Good luck! Nice looking animals. I've had them for several years, if you need help, let me know.

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That's, that is much appreciated.

Oh, your guys are tiny! Look to be recently weaned, so maybe not even 2 months old yet. It'll be awhile before they start breeding.

I call ASFs at this stage popcorn. Like you said, they're very fast and jumpy. When I hold even my adults, I'm sure to keep a grip on their tail.

If you handle them a lot at this stage, you can get them REAL tame. The first colony I got, I was able to teach tricks to using the jingly cat balls. Most of my ASFs won't bite.

Congrats on the little guys! They definitely look freshly weaned. I second the notion of frequent handling now. It'll make it much easier down the road when you steal their babies ;)

Quick question guys. I've been thinking about how I could maximize how many I can fit. If I got the large size mixing tubs from home depot (35.5" x 24.5" x 7.5" L x W x H) and divided it could I use 1/2 for a 1.3 or 1.4 breeding group and the other half as a grow out tub for offspring?

Awesome looking bunch there!! I got mine not too long ago. I agree with holding them now to get them tame.

A second question I just thought of:

Is there anything they are known to be allergic to? Not so much food as I will be feeding lab block, but things like latex etc.

Great question. I've never seen any evidence of this, although they do sneeze from time to time, nothing out of the ordinary. I'll have to do some research on this one

One more question for tonight:

Is it better to move weaned ASF's to grow out tubs or keep them in with the breeding group until they are big enough to feed? If either will work what do you do and why?

Thanks again.