My First lady just popped, the other 2 should within the week!

Just felt I should share pictures of my first litter of ASF's, that are now just 2-3 hours old. Momma is looking fine and very proud of her first litter, and the other 3 are all very relieved she's done birthing (the male alternated between guarding the hide and pacing the cage, the other 2 ladies just kept running around and panicked, occasionally trying to make nests or just picking up and dropping bedding).


Momma guarding her litter
https://66.media.tumblr.com/ed33b8c2...j0u4o2_540.jpg


Momma beside her litter (I count 14 faces, will be counting by hand tomorrow).
https://67.media.tumblr.com/e0930ac1...j0u4o1_540.jpg

Just an update: Final count was 13 little ones in this litter!

Nice production. Looking good. Congrats.

Just an update to this, (I moved and only just got internet back) I ended up with 25 babies and 1 dead female. I think she must have had a birthing complication or maybe an infection or something, but I don't have the experience to know what exactly happened, I just know I checked on them a few days after the OP and one was dead, and one (or more) of the other asf's had eaten half her face. I will say her genitals were VERY swollen though, not sure how I didn't notice sooner (other than the fact their tank is currently on the floor).

On better news, I ended up with 5 albinos, an almost exactly 50/50 split of males/females, and the first of the babies opened their eyes fully thismorning.

I have a 1.3 colony and one of my females gave birth to my first litter of ASF's. Now what do I do? How old do they have to be to put them in a "grow-out" tub. I think I read somewhere to wait 21 days.

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Originally Posted by BornToHerp

I have a 1.3 colony and one of my females gave birth to my first litter of ASF's. Now what do I do? How old do they have to be to put them in a "grow-out" tub. I think I read somewhere to wait 21 days.

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I don't know about ASF... Rats and mice it's more like 4-5 weeks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BornToHerp

I have a 1.3 colony and one of my females gave birth to my first litter of ASF's. Now what do I do? How old do they have to be to put them in a "grow-out" tub. I think I read somewhere to wait 21 days.

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From what I have read it's safe to wait until the ladies have dropped their next litter, as that pretty much ensures the first litter is weaned (unless your ladies are birthing at very different times). But it is around 4 weeks you should separate them, although ASF's don't generally breed early like rats do (as far as I have heard).

...Although, as one of my ladies just reminded me today, it is possible (and maybe even common?) for newborns to get crushed/suffocate to death due to falling to the bottom of the pile, since asf's like to huddle, especially when young. So probably a good idea to separate them right before your ladies pop, or you end up with some dead babies.

So far I know for sure I lost 2 (momma was eating one, found other on bottom of pile, fed that one to my ferrets), and I think the stress of my rapid removal of the first litter/moving the adults out temporarily because they were bitey today/ spot cleaning tank because it was empty anyways/etc may mean I lost most of her litter this time around. saw a bunch of them looking like they weren't breathing, going to wait a few hours and check again/see what's left *sigh*. Atleast I noticed before my other lady started to pop, so shouldn't be a huge loss.