Ahhhhh - I Moved to the "Dark Side"

and picked up some ASF's! :P

I will admit though, I had to hear other people I know and respect give some feedback on theirs and how they were working out before I relented and decided to get some for a couple "picky" feeders I have that I don't plan to ever sell.

Ed brought a tub full of ASF's and we were able to split into four breeding groups.

There are 8 in these pictures, 4.4.
2.2 are Deborah's and I'll take them to her next weekend.

Ed suggested we do 2.2 to make sure we had a good breeder male - the one who gets "kicked out" of the colony will be fed off. But if they all get along happily, all four will get to stay.

Deborah - you're going to get one "gremlin" female and one other female.

Ed did a good job socializing them from babies, and despite being "jumpy" (hang onto those tails) they are pretty docile for the most part. These come from Tim Bailey's line, and I understand his are pretty "handle-able" as well.

Peekaboo!!!

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...8/IMG_3147.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...8/IMG_3149.jpg

Thank goodness! The hide is back!
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...8/IMG_3175.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...8/IMG_3186.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...8/IMG_3187.jpg

So - I need that link to the ASF Forum if someone can share it with me! Also, what is the gestation length for these guys?

Looking forward to get those EVIL little creatures next weekend (my gloves are ready :8:)

Here is the forum http://asfrats.info/

Yep, I move to the "dark side" with you, same time as a matter of fact, lol, and I am loving these little guys, its going to be fun to raise them up and breed them, I am not going to say they are nice though, I think it jinxes people from what I hear, haha, Ed......

Robin! I am so PROUD of you!

Welcome to the dark side!

You will learn to respect your devil dogs very quickly... the low food consumption... the low water consuption... the cleaning of the tub 1/3 as often (at least).... The much easier style of breeding.... and of course, the stuborn feeder that will eat regularly with its Natural Favorite Food.

BUT, I must warn you. when they are babies, they are the cutest thing you will ever see. So much more then rats and mice, when they are babies, having just opened their eyes, they look EXACTLY like the adults, only they are little tiny babies, a fifth the size. (kind of like human babies who once they have hair, look like little tiny grown ups)

For the first time EVER, I have a TINY bit more experience then you, and have been VERY sucsessfull so far in breeding them. If you have any questions I will dare to offer tiny little pieces of advice. :bow:


Keep us up to date on every thought you have on them. I for one will read every last word!

Mike

Congrats Robin and Deborah. Yes, all of our ASF's are pretty friendly, and most of the ones we have are relatively calm. I don't know what happened with Ed getting bit. I guess he scared one. As for gestation, I am not sure, but I believe it to be slightly longer than a regular rat. Don't worry about that too much, just know that if you blink your eyes, you'll have ASF's taking over. They reproduce like there's no tomorrow. I promise. Good luck to you guys. I love these things. We don't feed them to too many snakes, but the ones that we do, have put on great weight (most were very horrible feeders).

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Originally Posted by muddoc

Congrats Robin and Deborah. Yes, all of our ASF's are pretty friendly, and most of the ones we have are relatively calm. I don't know what happened with Ed getting bit. I guess he scared one. As for gestation, I am not sure, but I believe it to be slightly longer than a regular rat. Don't worry about that too much, just know that if you blink your eyes, you'll have ASF's taking over. They reproduce like there's no tomorrow. I promise. Good luck to you guys. I love these things. We don't feed them to too many snakes, but the ones that we do, have put on great weight (most were very horrible feeders).

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Tim, don't you know? Ed has a "Bite ME" sign on him that all animals are able to read for some reason. He told me that he was holding one of your snakes that's usually calm and it started striking.

At least he's a good sport about it. As far as scaring the ASF, he really wasn't doing much with it, other than holding it while talking to us. He said he could feel it's little jaw vibrating as it sunk its teeth into his finger. :P

Oh looks like a nice group Robin. Welcome to the dark side! :D

I agree with Tim on the picky feeder thing. We've got a couple of snakes here, Danu in particular, who were just not doing well being consistent feeders. Put them on ASF's and holy wow watch em eat! These may never be our main source of food (never say never Jo) but they definitely have a place in our current feeding program. :)

Robin..conrats on the ASF pickup! Give them a bit of birdseed every once in a while..they love it...also make sure you have glass waterbottles or you'll be replacing them daily.
Say goodbye to your mousers.....I've switched every mouser here to ASF on the first try.....

OOooo, yours are very nice looking! The rat in the bottom right hand corner's (first group pic) face is all red like he's angry LOL.

nice batch of ASF's. I think I have to come over to the dark side as well for my only bp who still is not eating :(:mad: dang too bad shipping rats and mice costs so much, otherwise I'd order a few from Tim as well. I'll be watching out for your threads in regards to these guys to see how you like them. :D