Multimammate Mouse, Common African Rat, Soft-furred or African Soft-furred Rat

I wrestled with the idea of bringing them in or not ... here are the conclusions I came to.

While they are supposed to have great litters most people with them report about a 14 average ... Same as most of my rats.

No real difference in pregnancy length between those and a normal rat.

They look similiar to a hamster ... this may turn people off to them thinking they are a "pet" rather than a feeder.

And the biggest one ... The only snake they are really going to be good for is wild caught ball pythons. With them still being an exotic with high prices most people arent going to want to feed them to their animals ...

If I was breeding snakes to sell I would not feed them these rats ... you are running a risk of the reptiles (particularly ball pythons) imprinting on them. As a potential client I would not consider an animal from a breeder feeding soft-furred rats as they are only available in limited quantities and high cost.

Bryan

Personally, I think they're nothing more than a gimmick .... if you can't get ball pythons to eat and thrive on mice and/or rats, you're doing it wrong. As a breeder, I want my hatchlings to be eating the most widely available source of prey possible ... mice and rats.

Just my $.02

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Personally, I think they're nothing more than a gimmick .... if you can't get ball pythons to eat and thrive on mice and/or rats, you're doing it wrong. As a breeder, I want my hatchlings to be eating the most widely available source of prey possible ... mice and rats.

Just my $.02

-adam

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I agree 100% my Bp's are thriving on rat's and I wouldn't change a thing. These rodent's are probably for someone only getting WC female's.

Great points and I feel the same way. I'm not having feeding problems myself...I guess I'm mostly taken in by the fact that they don't urinate so much, and the size being inbetween mice and regular rats. Any thoughts on if these will become a popular food item or not? I realize a transition would be hard and probably most established breeders wouldn't buy into this early just due to the fact that they are not common. What if they did become more common would keepers be inclined to change to this food source assuming prices would also drop and were comparible to rats (or mice).

I'm trying to invision different scenarios of how this would work...if it can. It may not be feasible to get in the action early due to the crazy prices being asked now. So its largely dependant on the population of these new rodents and a price drop. If and when that is accomplished, I think the next wall to climb would be to convince reptile keepers to jump into it. With this I see many skeptics and a few who might try it. I would think this might cause a mess though with some breeders raising on this new rodent and some not, even assuming these af. rodents are widely available.

A possible scenario for smaller breeders/keepers that may work is if they would be used just for feeding animals that are kept for breeding/pets. Reptile offspring could still be raised on mice. This however poses the question of why raise so many different rodents? Good question! Is the less smell worth it?

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Originally Posted by TekWarren

I guess I'm mostly taken in by the fact that they don't urinate so much

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So what? They still stink, all rodents do.

-adam

They smell about as bad as smaller rats, so the less odor is not a real factor. I hoped to sell the offspring of mine as breeders to others. I think personally I'd stick with raising rats. Why put the same food into one that only gets a 1/3 the size of a rat?
They are darned cute, but it still doesn't bother me to feed the little buggers off to a snake.
Wolfy

So even though they urinate so little you would say they smell just as bad as mice or rats? I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything one way or another just trying to learn the facts. The main odor in my rodent tubs is urine, I clean the tubs weekly but in about 2 days you can hardly tell smell wise...especially in the maturing male tubs. That's why males are the first to go! Thus far I guess its worth it to get some and do some testing unless some fall into my lap.

Another quest for a clean odor -less down the tubes for now. My wife's gerbils never smelled, maybe I'll have to train the mice to use the potty :P

Thanks for the replies!

I may be immune to the smell but ... The only times mine get smelly is when one of my drinking valves has leaked. I can instantly tell when I walk into the shop. I can also tell if an animal has died in the last 4 hrs ...

If you want something between mice and rats with decent litters try dwarf hamsters. They are gaining popularity as a feeder. With dwarfs you can keep them in colonies.

My personal opinion is if the rodents smell bad after only a few days you need to check what you are feeding them.

Bryan

Thanks for the info, generally its the all male tub that starts to smell when they pee. My mouse breeding tubs with just one male and females are not bad and much less messy.

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Originally Posted by Bdadawg

I may be immune to the smell but ... The only times mine get smelly is when one of my drinking valves has leaked. I can instantly tell when I walk into the shop. I can also tell if an animal has died in the last 4 hrs ...

If you want something between mice and rats with decent litters try dwarf hamsters. They are gaining popularity as a feeder. With dwarfs you can keep them in colonies.

My personal opinion is if the rodents smell bad after only a few days you need to check what you are feeding them.

Bryan

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Or you are over crowding them. I found that out the hard way with my growouts.