multimamate rateing

i was just wondering how u al rate mulits as a bp food i am considering starting a colony and i am reduceung my conr to almost nill also my mice and i was thinking of using these as a subsitute to rats lets me know your thoughts


plus i dont like killing rats when they are bigger they have personalities multis and mice dont

also the breeder i am geting them form seems to have biger than norm multis her adults are up and over 80g and reach 60g at about 8 weeks

just saw another thred with pics of what i am geting it said they were african soft fur heads is this just another name for mulitmamate mice or a different or sub species

Here's an interesting site for you to read.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jean.wright93/mm/mm.htm

From what I understand they are rats, not mice or more properly said, more closely related to the true rats than the true mice.

We are breeding them in a limited way to feed our WC/LTC rescues as well as a few very picky breeders and I must say they have gone over very well here. Ball pythons tend to be very prey specific so we will not be feeding these to any snakes that are for sale.

As far as care they are incredibly easy to care for. Many of the benefits of mice as far as production of offspring and size but without the awful stink of mice or the problem that some mice show of cannabalizing their own offspring. They aren't however nearly as friendly or hand tameable as regular rats.

We currently have one stable colony trio (1:2) and they are clicking along wonderfully, producing offspring, eating, etc. and basically no real worries with them other than watching that the breeder male doesn't nip me. He's VERY protective of his mates and their offspring and for a little rat, has a big attitude. LOL

They are scientifically in between rats and mice, but they lean a bit more towards mice. The can be called mice or rats, but visually and temperamentally, they are much more like mice in appearance and personality. They just get a bit bulkier than mice.

They are typically called Natal Rats, ASF Rats or Multimammate Mice. I personally like "African Soft Furred Mice". People who think "Rat", think "Rat Personality" and that's not what they are getting.

I think they are easy to breed, have little to no odor, can be handeable with some time and effort though males are generally less skittish than females.

Rats grow to X grams much faster than an ASF Rat does. I would consider ASF's a good replacement for mice, but I still raise standard rats for the quicker growth rate.

Rick

If you are not ito the idea of feeding adult "standard" rats; you don't have to. I feed even my adult BPs on medium-sized rats alone. They do not get overfat and don't strain to eat their prey. IMO, a large adult rat is too big for most adult BPs, unless you have a really large one.
I just re-read your post though, and it seems you are interested in ASF rats. Sorry; no experience with those! But there are people here who are into them and will inform you I am sure.