My very first batch of baby ASFs!

I just bought seven African Soft Fur rats last month, two are an older mated pair and five are younger, one male and four females. The older mom just had her first litter! Looks like about 13 new babies. Here are some pics below. They were so crazy about running on the wheels that I had to get them two wheels to keep everyone happy LOLOL. I've been feeding them a mix of all kinds of different foods: Masuri, pig pellets @ 16% protein, scratch, a bird seed mix that is mostly a variety of nuts with a few black sunflower seeds in it, oranges, carrots, snow peas, broccoli, cauliflower... I keep the room temp at 75F and change the food every other day, full cage cleaning and disinfect once per week. Looks like it's paying off!

I'm also adding a few photos of my snake room setup. I have one ARS rack of 20 bins (a combo of an ARS-7030 and ARS-8018), have 14 snakes so far with one on order, so will have room for five more until my rack is full. I have one 40 gallon breeder critter cage with ASFs, one 40 gallon critter cage with regular rats, and a few more 20 gallon critter cages with mice. Not sure which ones I'm going to keep long term, just trying them all out.

I just discovered the baby ASFs today, the mom was pretty curious about my hand in the tank, I thought she might bite me so I petted the other ASFs first and moved them one by one to another cage, she seemed to want to bite me or at least check me out as I as petting and grabbing the other ASF. Was finally able to get her out without getting bit, she was really more curious than aggressive, never really tried to bite me. Then I moved all the babies and put them under the big cave in the clean tank, same spot as the old cage. I was also wearing rubber gloves too just in case.

Well it was a bitter sweet night, I just went down to take another photo and heard some squeaking... Apparently two of my adult mice decided to give birth for the first time and they were eating their young YUCK. I separated them into their own tanks, hopefully they won't eat them all... I may have to feed the cannibals to my snakes. Hopefully my ASFs will be better about raising their young.


http://www.capsandstems.com/ASFbabies.jpg

http://www.capsandstems.com/ASF-1.jpg

http://www.capsandstems.com/ASF-2.jpg

http://www.capsandstems.com/snakeroom-1.JPG

http://www.capsandstems.com/snakeroom-2.JPG

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http://www.capsandstems.com/snakeroom-4.JPG

http://www.capsandstems.com/snakeroom-5.JPG

http://www.capsandstems.com/snakeroom-6.JPG

These are my young rats, too young to breed at the moment...
http://www.capsandstems.com/snakeroom-7.JPG

Nice set up !!

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Be cautious with citrus fruits and rats, it's been supposedly linked to cancer in males.

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Originally Posted by Fraido

Be cautious with citrus fruits and rats, it's been supposedly linked to cancer in males.

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Thanks for the info, I didn't know that about oranges! Looks like broccoli is bad for them too and I've been feeding them that as well.

PetCo actually had those critter cages on sale for half price. I picked up a bunch of them for my snakes, then bought the ARS rack system, so converted the critter cages to rodent tanks.

Raw cabbage and broccoli are said to be rough on them. Great looking set up there. Loce the ars rack. Hope they take off for you now.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Thanks for the info, I didn't know that about oranges! Looks like broccoli is bad for them too and I've been feeding them that as well.

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No problem! I just did a quick search and everything I've read says that broccoli is good for them, where did you read that it's bad?

I see celery in your photo, and I've ready about the stringiness of if being a problem, were you maybe meaning that?


Chili, I read the cabbage thing, but I have never ever heard of broccoli (raw or cooked) ever being rough. How would it be rough on them, though?




Editing for the seventieth time.. the celery supposedly has little nutritional value, and can cause loose stools.

I was just trying to give them a varied diet, not too much of one thing. Just looking in the fridge for whatever we won't eat (not spoiled), we often have some berries as well like strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. How about cheese and bread? I clean up their food bowls and give new food every day or every other day. Today they seemed very content, I've never seen rats so happy LOL. I'm pretty sure I have four males and three females in the bunch so I'm guessing I'll have to separate them at some point?

Nice set up :)

When I kept pet rats they'd get table scraps pretty often. Most fruits and veggies are fine, there were a few we were careful with though. Apples are great as long as you remove the seeds, for breeding/nursing momma rats I'd give them extra protein (scrambled eggs, lentils etc) it tended to help them be a little more energized.

By about 6 weeks old you'll know which rats are male and which are female - the males have rather large balls. 6 weeks is the age you'll want to separate them as well other wise you'll probably end up with pregnant baby rats. *My background with rats is as pets not feeder breeders so some of this may change for you* The females should be at least 4 months old before having any litters - that is about when they are full grown and will be able to carry a healthy litter. Rats are pregnant for about 3 weeks, and usually nurse for 4 weeks, with week 5 tapering off and the males should be separated from the females by week 6. Momma rat should get 2+ months off before being bred again. This should also give you a little time to find out the temperament of the rats you have - aggression is hereditary in rats. If you have a bitey rat you shouldn't breed it as it will increase the chance the offspring will also be bitey. The same goes for mothering instincts - if you end up with a momma rat that just really sucks at it or has issues nursing her babies I wouldn't recommend keeping her girls as breeders.

Any way good luck

Lol. Cheese is okay in moderation, a lot of people suggest staying away from bread since it's easy to choke on, most would recommend toasting it before.

Most breeders separate males at 5 weeks, it's not actually that difficult to sex them as newborns if you start comparing them to one another!

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I love ASFs! So cute! I had always been told they were nasty and bit, but my colony was full of such sweet little rodents that I started selling them as pets. ;)

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Originally Posted by Amelydia

...The same goes for mothering instincts - if you end up with a momma rat that just really sucks at it or has issues nursing her babies I wouldn't recommend keeping her girls as breeders...

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Some people also suggest culling mothers with maternal aggression, I'm not sure I totally agree with it myself, she is only protecting her babies after all. However, I have seen maternal aggression develop into just plain old aggression once, so I guess it is probably best to have no maternal aggression. Makes it easier to take babies, too.

Where did you order your colony from??


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That's a professional set up right there

Yea, I'm trying to go pro right from the start so I don't get a bunch of equipment and then have to upgrade down the road, starting small and high end. Also working with some pretty high end snakes in the $1200 plus range. I actually searched all over for ASFs and there was only one pet shop in all of Colorado that had them. I think I paid about $7 each, it was a little pet shop that just opened up in downtown Denver. Found a few ASF breeders online but they all got rid of them. Now that they are on the Lacey act you can't transport across state lines so I may keep a few long term just so they don't go extinct in Colorado LOL.

I pet my ASFs a little bit when I feed them, trying to not take any babies until they are weaned so they know I'm not the bad guy that they need to bite HA. I think the glass aquariums are a bonus too since they see me working in the snake room all the time. Sometimes they just sit and stare at me LOL.

By the way, I've been doing much better with my mice. I've been breeding them in a colony and when one is big enough that she looks like she will have babies I move her to a separate tank. No cannibalism at all with that method.

Well my colony of ASFs isn't doing very well. Out of that first batch of babies I only have five left, was ready to leave for work and saw a dead baby on the bottom of the cage half eaten. So I moved the female and the last of her babies to their own 10 gallon glass critter cage. She seemed pretty beat up, her tail was pretty beat up too, probably trying to protect the babies. On the plus side I had a female Arizona mountain king snake that has not eaten in months. She actually ate the dead half eaten baby ASF within about 30 seconds LOL! Looks like ASFs are the trick for picky eaters. It was actually a bigger meal than she has ever eaten too. From now on I'm going to move all my female mice, rats, and ASF to a separate cage for having young and raising them. The whole colony breeding thing just isn't working for me, it may work to house males and several females but it doesn't seem to work with babies in the mix.

I definitely would separate pregnant females into their own bins for giving birth and raising the babies. Especially with ASFs and mice, to be honest. I don't find it to be much of an issue with rats, but I still think it's best to separate.

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