African Soft Furs

This is a great thread.. I've been considering switching to ASF's from mice, and this was exactly what I was looking to find out.

Do you guys think a pair of gloves, like thin work gloves, would make handling them better or worse? I know with some reptiles (my iguanas) the gloves make biting and aggression worse...

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Originally Posted by CntrlF8

This is a great thread.. I've been considering switching to ASF's from mice, and this was exactly what I was looking to find out.

Do you guys think a pair of gloves, like thin work gloves, would make handling them better or worse? I know with some reptiles (my iguanas) the gloves make biting and aggression worse...

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I use a pair gardening gloves all the time. Keeps your hands much cleaners when cleaning the tubs, moving rats/mice or ASF around and gives them something to cling to vs. my skin. :)

Gloves all the way...I just recommend them be tight fitting as you don't have as much dexterity and control with bulky gloves so you are likely to use more pressure then necessary with them.

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Originally Posted by catawhat75

Ummm after reading a bit there, maybe I will stick to rats only :bolt: They may be cute, but my daughter wants a couple for pets and they don't seem to be the pet "type". Or explain to her that they really aren't the hold in your lap type like she is used to.

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Pets! haha i heard they are vicious!

Can you keep ASF's in the same size tubs as mice?

We are on our 4th and 5th generations from the origonal 3.6 that we bought. We have 18 trio of 1.2 that are activley breeding now.

As the generations get farther and farther from the origional the ASF seem to be less and less agressive. Before when removing babies or weenlings or cleaning the cages, there was a good chance you were getting bit. Now I can stick my hand in the cages and pet them.

They are really cute and soft but they do jump out of your hands quick. We feed ours Mazuri and keep them on shredded aspen. Our Balls love them and so do the Cats. We have had to make a real effort to cat proof the containers.

Yes they bite nibble chew, not a great pet for you child.On the other hand the feeding response I get from my wild caught rescue's to them and from a few of my selective eaters is so dramticly better then to normal rats,for this reason alone they are worth keeping and breeding to Me. We use a class tank to keep them worried about them chewing out of plastic thats just us seems to be fine for the 2 females and male and offspring up to weaning age.I really think the size of adult asf's is a very good choice for most bp's you can always feed more then one and we have seen even the wild caughts who usually will only take one rat regardless of size keeping to the correct prey size for the snake,take multiple ASf. If your going to be raisng your own prey anyway the time and space to keep a small colony of asf's is well worth the reward in my opinion.

I have never been bitten...ever. Even my original animals never bit me...maybe you guys are just slow LOL. i can stroke their backs and head even briefly without them getting to upset. Like I've said in the past, I don't give them the opportunity to bite me. If I see what could be aggressive movement...I take my hand out!

I have also never used gloves and never will. I think it prevents them from adjusting to your smell and could even encourage erratic behavior.

As for the bites for most people I don't think it's much of a problem animals just seem to like to bite me. shoot most of our pet rat's nip my hand to say hello,It's just somthing i've gotten used to lol if it has teeth at somepoint it will try and bite me. I have gotten to the point where they come and stand up when I talk to them and I can pet them for short periods of time. All in all I think they make great feeders and pretty intresting breeders.

We've have a few colonies for those BPs that go off feed and we can't seem to excite them with a rat. They seem to me to be good transition food.

I've never had one bite hard enough to draw blood. I have had a nip or two though. I would agree that they are very fast and do not fear heights or jumping. If on gets loose you might as well forget trying to capture it . . . .at least I do.

I can pet some gently but they are not friendly like most of my rats. I doubt if I would try to keep thme as pets for children.

I'm getting some new ASFs tomorrow from some people over here. I have two un enthusiasitc feeders that I'd love to get weight on.