Look Before You Breed.... ; )

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Originally Posted by MojaveLesser

lol... I started 3 months ago with a group of 1.3 and now at last count I have, (after feeding a lot off) 24.48. A bit much for one picky snake. ; )

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I did a quick count and I really don't know the male female ratio but I have about 90 asf's from pinks to about 40 breeding size.

I feed mine to everyone except a boa and adult Hog Island. They can and will fight till the end and don't like to feed multiples, so I prefer rats for the big guys but may I have to change that in a feeding or 2.

The only reason I started to begin with was because they do have a lot less smell and is very tolerable compared to norway's.

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Originally Posted by shorty54

Nice....must be real nice. My ASF's haven't produced yet. I've had them for over 6 months. I have an aggressive female that attacks the male and other female.

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Maybe it would help to feed the nasty one to a snake and see if the other female will breed when she's not being attacked. You can always retain a female out of the litter if she produces one to replace the mean one.

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Originally Posted by rperry03

The only reason I started to begin with was because they do have a lot less smell and is very tolerable compared to norway's.

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I agree 100% They are much cleaner than the common rat. The only issue I have is that they (at least mine) jump constantly. It never fails that I end up chasing at least one every cleaning day. lol

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Originally Posted by redneck_crow

maybe it would help to feed the nasty one to a snake and see if the other female will breed when she's not being attacked. You can always retain a female out of the litter if she produces one to replace the mean one.

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x2

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Originally Posted by Simplex

There the natural food source. They dont breed a whole lot faster as far as i know. But never bred rats so i dont know. They r bigger then a mouse but smaller then a rat. Arround 60-75 grams for feeder. Seen and heard of them topping 150gs for big breeder males. No smell for breeding that i have noticed at all.

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Its not that they breed "faster" its just that every thing seems to just be shorter with them from pregnancy to weaning the time is just less then Norway rats. (at least that what I have noticed)

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Originally Posted by MojaveLesser

I agree 100% They are much cleaner than the common rat. The only issue I have is that they (at least mine) jump constantly. It never fails that I end up chasing at least one every cleaning day. lol

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My cat loves catching the escapees for me. The problem is that my dogs will go and steal them from her and sometimes leave a nasty bloody mess on the carpet. Yay for Spotbots!

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Originally Posted by spitzu

My cat loves catching the escapees for me. The problem is that my dogs will go and steal them from her and sometimes leave a nasty bloody mess on the carpet. Yay for Spotbots!

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lol... I must admit I have no idea what a Spotbot is.

http://www.bissell.com/spotbot-pet-deep-cleaner/

It's just a small automatic carpet cleaner. Works pretty good.

I breed a few groups of asf's and they have smaller litters than my norway rats and take longer to get to any decent size even though they get to weanling stage faster.
I raise them for picky eaters and mousers and starting some hatchlings otherwise I'd prefer not to breed them.
Anyone who thinks asf's don't stink hasn't stuck their nose close to the tank :rofl:
Maybe they don't stink as bad as mice but they do stink, lol.

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Plus if you handle them only a little when young they are better behaved then most other rats.

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I'd think this depends on where you get your Norway rats, my Norway rats lick my fingers clean and beg to be held even when they have babies, just try to get an asf to come running to be held :P

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

I'd think this depends on where you get your Norway rats, my Norway rats lick my fingers clean and beg to be held even when they have babies, just try to get an asf to come running to be held :P

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I agree with this. I have had a couple pet rats that were amazing pets. They liked to snuggle more then my dog ever did. My feeder rats however are a different story lol. They only really get messed with on feeding days and cleaning days so other than my first male (Who eats treats out of my hand ; ) ) the others are skiddish. Notice I said skiddish not bitey. I can reach into a plie of my rats and not even get scrached. I like them that way. They are such sweet animals.