2 females isnt a preexisting colony, 2 females is 2 females.
Established colony= a boy and his womenz.
11-19-2010, 11:39 AM
anatess
Okay, I've had ASF's for 2 years now.
And here's my observation from things I've tried (all my colonies start out as 1.2 trios):
I cannot add an adult male or female to an established trio. They will be bloody the next day, possibly dead.
I can mix new juveniles in the grow out tank without a problem by following this method: On cleaning day, move the grow outs into the clean tank, put the new rats in the dirty tank and let them roll in it a while then move them in with the other grow outs. Grow outs are separated by gender.
If I want to start a new colony with fresh blood, I take 2 of my virgin females, put them in a tank and add a male bought from a rat breeder that has been rolled in the dirty bedding. I can't do this with non-virgin females. The male will be bloody the next day... like if I have an established trio and the male dies, I cannot just add an outsider male in there (even if he's from the grow out tank). He will be bloody, if not dead, the next day. Same thing if a female dies. I can't add a new adult female even if she's a virgin in there. The other female will tear her up. So, I always add fresh blood to a colony with virgin females and an outsider male.
To replace old breeders, I just let babies grow with the breeders until they are breeding age, then I move out the old breeder.
I can mix a baby from outside to an established colony with babies. I let the new baby roll in the dirty bedding and move him in with the colony on cleaning day. It doesn't matter what color either. I successfully mixed in a pink-eyed dilute baby with a colony of agoutis using this method. This is how I was able to "transform" my colony to all pink-eyed dilutes.
