New ASF Colony. Got some questions. Pics included

Ok so just picked up a starter colony from my local snake/rodent breeder. He sold me 3 adult females(1 already prego) and 1 male for $10.
Here are some of my questions for now.

1.At the moment i have them in a 10 gallon glass tank. Im looking for a good watering system that I can get them. Right now i have a bowl that i have to refill all the time. I was thinking of something that would have a tube that i could hook up to a large 5 gallon bucket. But i know that they like to chew alot so i would need something that they could not just tear up. Any recommendations?

2. I saw on the size charts in the sticky that they only get to be maybe max 60 grams. I know most adult snakes are over 1500 grams. Which means that the 60 gram ASF would be less than the 10% size recommendation. Should i feed only 1 at a time or 2 at a time with the time comes?

3. How fast should this colony grow? At the moment i have 4 snakes. 3 adults and 1 5 month old. At what point should i have enough to where is should be able to feed them on a normal basis and not worry about killing my supply of ASF?

Here are the pics of my colony. 1 Albino female (the prego one) and 3 brown.
http://evcstudios.com/driver/snake/asf/001.jpg
http://evcstudios.com/driver/snake/asf/002.jpg
http://evcstudios.com/driver/snake/asf/003.jpg
http://evcstudios.com/driver/snake/asf/004.jpg
http://evcstudios.com/driver/snake/asf/005.jpg
http://evcstudios.com/driver/snake/asf/006.jpg

Also is there any food that can be used that is cheaper and still good for them than the standard stuff?

I would get some sticky velcro inside the tank on a water bottle maybe, or you can find a way to suspend it from the top.

Food, as per simple man's suggestion, I ordered 40lb Native Earth lab block from national pet pharmacy for 4.99 flat rate shipping. SWEET.

1. Yes they chew like crazy, after a number of ruined water bottles, I came up with this:

8oz lixzit water bottle mcgyvered
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...ks/eggs004.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...ks/eggs005.jpg

Had this set of bottles almost a year :D
I just run the wire through the screen top.

2. My older breeders that are fed off, weigh about 78g, but a 60g asf weekly is enough for even the big BP's.

3. It will take them a month or so before you see babies, then 2-3 months for them to reach 30-40g, they are slow growers.

Awesome macgyvering!!!!! LOL!!! I knew it was an option, but I'm glad you knew how to display it, the whole hanging from lid thing!

You always compliment anything I post so well :D

Thanks Jessica :), if you only knew how frustrated those little buggers made me! I started using the lixit bottles so they couldn't climb and chew, WRONG!! They chewed through 5 of the 5 oz bottles, at the top where the wire goes.

For water I use this http://www.petco.com/product/110483/...er-Bottle.aspx and so far it has worked great, because of the design they have not been able to chew it up yet.

For feeding, I am not sure, I am still waiting on my first litter to be decent sized, so I haven't gotten there yet. I actually only have 4 left from that litter, small as they are they are the only thing my picky girl will eat.

Just from my experience, I have had mine since April and they miscarried the first month, but my 2 does raise about 8-15 babies a month, my June keeper girl is a little under half the size of the adults.

http://asfrats.info/
http://asfrats.info/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=646
And of course the ASF Thread that you posted on, the stickys on top are very helpful. Mike Cavanaugh seems to have had a lot of luck with a certain type of hog feed with his.

Trust me they can and will chew through that bottle, it's modeled after the lixit.
Mike uses Sunny Acres hog feed $10-12/bag a purina product

Hmm, I have been lucky so far then, the brats don't seem interested in trying to clime it so far = D. Which is good, between them and the rats I have lost 5 water bottles recently. I have been trying wet cob, it seems to be working fine, although everyone seems to be craving protein more with it, the dog food I mix in goes faster then the rest. Not sure if I will continue to use it, anyone else tried it?

cull chewers and trouble makers!!!

Mine just has the sipper through the hardware cloth. Yay!

When I get off my lazy butt and build a rat rack, I will be able to kiss the water bottles goodbye, I'm just glad that they are holding up.
I was fortunate to find these bottles on ebay 8oz, for $4 ea.

Max 60 grams!?!?

My adult males weight at least twice that amount. :O

I think I saw that post/chart last year where it said that ASFs would never outgrow a BP's ability to eat them because they maxed out at around 60 grams, which is why I started breeding ASFs. I don't know where they got that information, because I also have ASFs that are 100+ grams after a few months. They're still the perfect size for BPs though.

Good to know, That was my only concern. Also i picked this up at pets-mart for about $6.
http://www.amazon.com/Chew-Proof-Gla.../dp/B002GC4FGK
Its suppose to be chew proof and if they chew through it. Well they wont have any more teeth. I bought a 50lb bag of hog feed and built a little feeder out of 1/8" metal cloth.

The glass water bottles are a must by the time you keep replacing all the plastic water bottles that get chewed up. I use the 6oz because the tip will come down to far on the 12oz model. I would check petco and petsmarts to see who had them cheaper at time. I had to use a q-tip inside the tips because there is two metal balls that dont let any water out when you first get them. I didnt notice for a day or so when the water level didnt go down. Some type of food hopper for them to chew food is good or they will waste more food. I use purina rodent blocks for mine. Mine drop 10 babies per female so you can be over run and need more cages in no time.


:taz: :taz: :taz:

I made a nice food dispenser and the decided to just shovel all of the food out to make it keep coming. It was full last night when i went to bed and when i woke up this morning it was all on the floor of their cage.
As for the bottle i have the 6oz. did you take on of the balls out or what?