Asf mystery ???

Ok this has me stumped! I have a tub of ASFs with two adult females and a litter of babies. The babies are about 5 weeks old and I was planning to separate them in the next couple days as they are eating food and drinking from water bottles. Anyway, Becky came home today and found 11 newborn pinkies!! Now these females haven't been exposed to a male since the previous litter was born. Just for the sake of argument she rechecked the sex and sure enough both females. I am totally stumped.

It seems I have the worlds only asexually reproductive ASFs!! Lol:confused::confused:

Sounds like one of the "weaner's" knocked mama up. haha they don't just get prego.

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Originally Posted by BbyBoa

Sounds like one of the "weaner's" knocked mama up. haha they don't just get prego.

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:O :rofl:

Could she have already been pregnant and you just didn't know it?

I always leave my males in with the moms, but I have heard that they can retain sperm. I would wean the older babies. Sometimes they will hog all the mothers milk and the new ones won't get enough. Good luck with all the little ones!:)

Well if she was already pregnant she would have had to held the babies for over five weeks! And if the weaner knocked up mom then with gestation consider he wouldn't even have had his eyes open when he did it :O. I'm going with the holding sperm theory.

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Originally Posted by ScottNBecky

Well if she was already pregnant she would have had to held the babies for over five weeks! And if the weaner knocked up mom then with gestation consider he wouldn't even have had his eyes open when he did it :O. I'm going with the holding sperm theory.

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Haha guess I didnt read clearly, I didnt see that she already had Pinks! my bad, I just thought she got prego. :D

I think I'd lean more towards the 5 week idea then retaining sperm.

ASFs, and mice, can store semen in their bodies. It sounds weird, but it's true.

But a more likely scenario is that you have a male in the cage and didn't notice, or the original male knocked the ASF up right after her first litter, or one of the babies did it.

Question why did you remove the male? These arent like rat rats for the most parts where you can move the males around. With the asf's 99% of the time the females will kill the males when you try and return them.

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Originally Posted by village idiot

Question why did you remove the male? These arent like rat rats for the most parts where you can move the males around. With the asf's 99% of the time the females will kill the males when you try and return them.

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This is my question too.. You do realize that if the male is not raised with his breeding group of females and left to live with them permanently, he is much more likely to attack and kill or be attacked and killed. With these guys it's always recommended when starting a new colony to raise them together as babies and never introduce new adults to a colony or it will be a massacre.

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Originally Posted by village idiot

With the asf's 99% of the time the females will kill the males when you try and return them.

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This is just not true. I would say more like 1 out of 10 times, they might fight, and even then, they'll probably get used to it.

I have never had an ASF colony that didn't readily accept other ASFs into it. Male mice, are harder to introduce into ASF colonies. 50% of the time, it's a no go.

Ok well first off I didn't remove the male he died, I'm not sure whether he was killed by the females or died For some other reason but nonetheless I didn't remove him. As far as introducing new males I have heard it was a problem so I've never tried but I have a few surplus males I may just try putting one in with them and if he dies no great loss. I hate to lose two big females.

If you don't want to risk it then just leave one of the male babies in with them. That's the easiest way. If you decide not to do that and try a different adult male, chances are the females would attack him (if any fighting were to happen) and not the other way around.

I don't think one of the babies could have gotten her pregnant. That time line is off. She probably mated with the male and had a later gestation.

As far as adding a new male, I've had 100% success introducing older males to older females. I would remove ALL the babies (after they were weaned), clean the cage and accessories WELL and re-introduce the females to the new male. I never witnessed any injures. I have to add though, my ASFs were very mellow and not aggressive with me or each other so I didn't feel like I was putting them in danger. I also monitored them for the first day to make sure they were getting along. Never had to separate them.

I actually changed up my colonies quite often to keep from inbreeding.

Hey Monica that's actually a really good idea. I can leave a male in there and even a female or two as right now there is only two adult females and that way I can restore that colony and not lose the two big females. Thanks for the suggestion.

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Originally Posted by jsmorphs2

I don't think one of the babies could have gotten her pregnant. That time line is off. She probably mated with the male and had a later gestation.

As far as adding a new male, I've had 100% success introducing older males to older females. I would remove ALL the babies (after they were weaned), clean the cage and accessories WELL and re-introduce the females to the new male. I never witnessed any injures. I have to add though, my ASFs were very mellow and not aggressive with me or each other so I didn't feel like I was putting them in danger. I also monitored them for the first day to make sure they were getting along. Never had to separate them.

I actually changed up my colonies quite often to keep from inbreeding.

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Your introduction method is good. :)

Also, inbreeding is not a problem at all. It does not cause health problems, so you really don't need to worry about it. ;)

ASF temperaments seem to vary a lot. One of my colonies is so mean that the females jump at my hand trying to bite. They will attack any new comer. But my other 2 colonies are very laid back. They let me touch them or pet them and they don't care. It really depends.

As for the new babies, I've noticed ASFs are pregnant longer than other rodents since the babies are so small and grow so long. I would think its possible that female was already pregnant. It may also be possible that sperm was retained but I didn't think mammals could do this. Does anyone know how the gestation of ASFs? Or how long after mating can sperm live before the female ovulates?

I'm not sure of their gestation time but 23-25 days comes to mind.



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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

This is just not true. I would say more like 1 out of 10 times, they might fight, and even then, they'll probably get used to it.

I have never had an ASF colony that didn't readily accept other ASFs into it. Male mice, are harder to introduce into ASF colonies. 50% of the time, it's a no go.

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You may be one of the lucky ones:gj: