African Soft Furs

Well, I am picking up a couple ASFs this week and was looking for any tips from those who already breed them. Are they pretty much the same care-wise as Hoodeds, anything I need to know before I bring them home?

They're Adorable :d

Check with Heath... TekWarren. He has a link in his sig... and I believe he breeds them as well.

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.

Thats true. Thats why we decided against the ASF. Normals make awesome pets

I have a pretty decent breeding colony going and have been able to study them for almost a year now (October). I don't handle mine as if they where pets and I have NEVER been bitten by a single one of them. Really the only time I physically disturb them is to clean or remove one as a prey item. That said these rodents do seem use their mouths as a form or exploration rather than aggression...from what I have seen. More often than not mine would use their the mouths to pull something closer to them if it was out of their reach to further inspect it. I have not heard to much of anyone really concentrating on bonding with an asf rat but I don't think its out of the question. I am very happy with my decision to not only study and breed them but also use them as a prey item for my snakes.

I breed them as well (not as long as Tek but still for about 6-8 months now). In NO way do they make good pets


Bad Side - They Bite/nibble/chew - I have had them draw blood on numerous occasions before I learned to be like Tek and just let them be, they constantly chew. The babies jump like grasshoppers and once down they are gone. They fight back - so no missing allowed by the snake

Good side - they are very curious so you can pet them but only if one is willing to come away from the group (so you won't get bit). They smell even less then rats do (I could pry go a full month without cleaning them and never notice - FYI I clean them weekly). Finally they are small (full grown they are larger than a mouse about the size of a rat weanling). They are excellent breeders - very hardy and breed constantly with large litters (in fact I had to pull all the males as I was getting over run)

The Best Side - I had 2 balls that went off feed (1 for 9 months and 1 for a year) and ASF finally got them both to eat and eat consistently.

We have had them for about 10 months. I agree with everything above. They are great feeders for balls. I too have a few balls that would not eat on a reg basis that eat weekly for me now. I found, you need to feed them live to your snakes. If you kill them before feeding the snakes could care less about them.


They are fun to watch, we have one that has short ears and we found his children have short ears and stubby tails. We are playing with this morph to see what else we can get.

BTW, we use long tongs to take the pinks and fuzzes to feed our smaller snakes. The adult rats will attack you if you don't.

I'm playing with their genetics a tiny bit also but just for colors. I've got to where I am producing solid browns and solid beige's (or whatever the correct color terms may be LOL). Nothing to exciting really a solid brown popped up and I kept him for a breeder later a solid beige female came along so she was held back also. Pics on my site album, would love to see the ones your describing!

I agree with the others here. I've een breeding them since November. NOT good for pets. Mine can and do bite, and I give them very little opportunity to do so, but they still tag me fairly often. Draw blood every time. Maybe I have a meaner strain than others here =) I don't mind, as it makes it that much easier to kill them off.

All of my snakes, corn snakes and 1 ball python, are now eating them frozen/thawed, and all are growing quite well on them.

My BP was on live ASF rats since I got her at 75g back in early March, but I tried fresh killed and then frozen/thawed and she ate all of them easily. She is now on frozen thawed only and eats them just fine, either mice or ASF.

As for their care, pretty much the same as normal rats, though you need to be more careful because of the biting. They also jump VERY well and seem to have no fear of heights so if given the opportunity they will jump to escape from any height.

Food, they can eat the same good quality lab blocks as rats and mice.
Housing, they need more space than mice, 10 gal minimum for maybe a trio, 15 gal or larger is better. Since I'm now on all FT I've reduced my colonies to just a 15 gal with 1.4 breeders and they produce often and in decent numbers.
Give them some kind of a hide or nesting box, 3" PVC T connectors seem to be preferred by mine.
I also gave them a good safe and quiet wodent wheel attached to the screen top and they use it almost constantly.

Very important, for screen tops use 1/4" mesh, as the young ones can easily escape through 1/2" mesh and they move around earlier and faster than mice.

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.

Mike (McAdry) and I have a couple of WC adults that are doing quite well on the ASF's and one snake we've had since she was a hatchling. She's always been the most picky, ultra specific prey size snake I've ever seen. The ASF's have been a godsend with her as they fit the exact size that Rionnach will eat without me having to sort madly through the regular rat feeders to try to accommodate this snake.

While the rest of the collection will be fed regular rats, the ASF's are coming in very handy for some of the pickier ones and for the WC's (LTC I guess they could be called now).

I've only had one bite from an ASF and it was the male. He is very protective of his mates and their litters. I can't blame him for that and I just try to not trigger that when I deal with the breeding trio. I'm actually quite impressed on how much the male tends to the litters. It's quite common to see him over them, keeping them warm, doing the face and butt washing duties while the two females are off resting in another hide or getting something to eat or drink.

Little trick for catching an adult ASF. We did have one female get loose on us for 2 days. The way I caught her was to get her cornered, then lay down a large empty margine container on it's side in front of her only escape route. I just slapped the floor behind her and she instinctively ran for the "cover" of the plastic tub. Easy as pie to flip it upright, pop on the lid and get her safely back home again. :)

I'd love to start a colony for my picky eaters...But I can't seem to find any local to NJ?....

Charlie, get hold of Heath (TekWarren) and see if he knows anyone in your area that breeds ASF's. Either that or come visit Toledo, OH. :D

This is a timely thread resurrection. I just got 6.4.20ish (Two of the females have nursing litters) on Sunday from John at SuperSerpents and even though I've been reading Heath's ASF forum for month's in preparation, I'm still eager for more info.

In addition to the babies that came with the two moms, one of the other females was pregnant and gave birth the day after we got home, and despite the stress of travel seems to be doing okay with them. I was already careless enough to get bitten once, by the newest mom, and she was really quite forgiving...it was more of a warning nip, and didn't even break the skin. Much better than the couple of rat bites I've had, for sure.

So far, they seem relatively docile, and don't panic and gallop about like my mice do when I enter the room. John says that they have been really tame for him, and when we did the transfer we moved them all into my travel cages bare-handed and none of them nipped or seemed unduly alarmed.

I don't have any picky eaters to lure in, but I love the idea of a feeder rodent that never gets too big and doesn't smell as much as the rats or mice do.

They do have a scent Jess, usually the day before weekly cleaning of their home (I always freshen up midweek and then totally clean on Sundays). It's not offensive or strong like mice and not like the regular rats either. I've been trying to ages to place it....reminds me of another scent but I'll be darned if I can figure out what that is.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

They do have a scent Jess, usually the day before weekly cleaning of their home (I always freshen up midweek and then totally clean on Sundays). It's not offensive or strong like mice and not like the regular rats either. I've been trying to ages to place it....reminds me of another scent but I'll be darned if I can figure out what that is.

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Four days in, the odor is developing and to me it smells dead-on for swine. However stereotypically repugnant that is, it is less offensive to me than the rancid mouse urine smell.

They are also just endearingly curious. Everytime I go in the room where they are, they rush over to the side of the cage. They have trained me to offer them small treats, which they snatch from my hands and then quarrel over. They are so demanding...they recognize me, and want to interact...it's completely different from the mice who after months of daily contact still bolt and won't take treats from me. Even if they never produce, they are pretty nifty pets.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

They do have a scent Jess, usually the day before weekly cleaning of their home (I always freshen up midweek and then totally clean on Sundays). It's not offensive or strong like mice and not like the regular rats either. I've been trying to ages to place it....reminds me of another scent but I'll be darned if I can figure out what that is.

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I agree, they do have a scent but it quite different than mice or rats. It's almost spicy to me . . . . .

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Originally Posted by slartibartfast

Four days in, the odor is developing and to me it smells dead-on for swine.

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Swine!? Something is not right then...I have had asf rats over a year now, and I used to raise hogs. I realize people's senses are different but mine have never smelled swine.

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Originally Posted by TekWarren

Swine!? Something is not right then...I have had asf rats over a year now, and I used to raise hogs. I realize people's senses are different but mine have never smelled swine.

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Well, my nose is notoriously bad..i may be missing the more subtle tones.

Just came across this thread today.

It's odd, but another thread (curse my absentmindedness) advises giving carrots, petting and getting them familiar with you. With this in mind, since I have picked up 1.2.0 from Jon, I have been feeding them slices of mango by hand..and petting them, so far no bites and they do let me pet them. (I keep them in the kitchen for now..until they start breeding and/or are used to me)

I started off my rats the same way (the new ones that come in are shy), feeding them treats by hand..using GLOVES to handle if I was uncomfortable with a rat until I got used to them. I can handle my rats without gloves, have only been nipped 2 times (if I recall correctly) by new rats and I promptly fed the nipper off. The rats I have now, can be fed by hand and patted briefly *I have never tried longer and I have no desire to hold them*

I can't remember where I got that care sheet, sorry.:tears: