ASFR's and weight gain

i was talking to a herp buddy about ASFR's and we both came to the conclusion that bp's gain more weight on asfr's than with other rodents,even when the asfr's are smaller than rats or mice.

i'm interested to hear your views on this.have fun !

I havent documented anything, but I did notice that the female that has been eating ASFs since feb had a huge growth spurt and passed up 2 other females that were eating rats weighing about 25% more than the ASFs. I didnt record any data besides monthly weight and type of food offered. I could start recording the weight/type of the food offered just to see if there is any relationship...

Ok so your study is based on how many animals and over what length of time?

Were all the animals used for the study around the same weight when the study first started?

Were the prey size the same?

How much weight did the group on ASF gained compared to the group on regular rats over the same time period?

What are the specific numbers?

You can’t make such a claim without providing data to back it up!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Ok so your study is based on how many animals and over what length of time?

Were all the animals used for the study around the same weight when the study first started?

Were the prey size the same?

How much weight did the group on ASF gained compared to the group on regular rats over the same time period?

What are the specific numbers?

You can’t make such a claim without providing data to back it up!

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Who was that directed at? If it was to me, I was just saying that I could start taking down data and that I have nothing that would be considered conclusive. I am just saying it is a possibility based on casual observations.

I think she was talking to the other person. And I agree with her, without any backup data it would be like me saying that bps grow 20x faster on mice if I had one on mice that grew 20x faster then another on rats!

I interpreted both of the first 2 posts of this thread as very casual observances, not trying to make claims of absolute fact. The first person asked for more input and the second very specifically said not much data was recorded, but they could start recording more data to see IF there is a relationship. So I'm a little baffled at the tone that seems to be in Deborah's post.

And Beardedragon, the first post to me reads nothing like your theoretical claim. To me, the first post sounds more like "hey I was chatting with a buddy and this is what we think, what do you all think?"

I will agree absolutely that a more scientific study would have to be done before any claims should be made. I just don't see that any were made. :confuzd:

Ooo Interesting. I think that's something worth looking into. :)

I noticed that when I switched my animals over to my own feeder rats, they just seemed to pack on the weight and quickly. It was just an observation on my part, no evidence really, but so far I just attributed it all to growth spurts.

Same thing sort of. lol :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kc261

I interpreted both of the first 2 posts of this thread as very casual observances, not trying to make claims of absolute fact. The first person asked for more input and the second very specifically said not much data was recorded, but they could start recording more data to see IF there is a relationship. So I'm a little baffled at the tone that seems to be in Deborah's post.

And Beardedragon, the first post to me reads nothing like your theoretical claim. To me, the first post sounds more like "hey I was chatting with a buddy and this is what we think, what do you all think?"

I will agree absolutely that a more scientific study would have to be done before any claims should be made. I just don't see that any were made. :confuzd:

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Im just really interested in the claim, thats all:) If it is true i'll be finding me some ASFS!

Asf's have a completely different kind of hair. The individual hair looks to be thinner then rats (making it much softer) , but overall the number of hairs seems to be much thicker. They seem to be much higher strung then rats or mice. Their build, especialy the females after giving birth is very muscular and healthy. My females are all having back to back to back to back to back litters, and after every single litter, they are a little bigger, a little fatter, and overall a little more healthy looking. They don't sneeze like my rats used to do... but they are constantly cleaning themselves. The females are I believe the only ones in the rodent family that have fully functional prostate glands.

What does this all mean? who knows. I would think though that they probably have a completely different nutritional makeup then rats or mice. Obviously just the fact that females have a prostate tells me that their fat, protein, ect is going to be different then a normal female rat, who does not have a prostate.

I saw somewhere the average nutritional breakdown of a rat... it showed fat grams, protein grams ect. 1.) I wonder how accurate that chart is. 2) can they make a similar chart for ASF's?


mike

this study would have to be done from birth with same sex animals all from the same clutch.

so you would need 2 clutchs one for rats and one for ASF...

it would also be good if you can have a clutch that would eat both to see the diffrence.

people that say " i switched my ONE snake over" i dont really listen to because that animal could have been due for a growth spurt.