First Prego

OK so should i move her to another tank? i have the room to move her just a little worried about reintroducing her back to the group!

Dont remove her. Let her stay right where she is. The other asf in the tank will help her in raising the babies. Once I have a colony, I keep the colony intact.

the male wont eat the babbies?

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Originally Posted by Headsy

the male wont eat the babbies?

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No - but he will defend them - he'll even babysit them for her while she leaves them to eat and get water.

Definately do not remove her. It only causes negative things to happen!

Mike

ASF's are different than other mice and rats, I've heard they do better in colonies.

That being said I've never actually had ASF's myself and I'm curious, I know ASF's will wait to breed till they're of proper age, will they also wait to breed after giving birth? (ASF post partum estrus?)

No, they will immediately breed again after giving birth. Usually in the same day. Unlike domestic rats and mice, this is what they are supposed to do, and it has no negative impacts on the moms or the babies. You will see the moms get bigger and stronger and healthier with each back to back litter.

Mike

I thought the Norway rats also bred again right after delivering. Or are you not saying they don't do it but that it's not good for them to? It’s been a long time since I raised them and I didn’t keep track close enough to know but I thought I read that they where receptive right after delivery which I thought was odd but apparently not unprecedented for rodents.

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Originally Posted by RandyRemington

I thought the Norway rats also bred again right after delivering. Or are you not saying they don't do it but that it's not good for them to? It’s been a long time since I raised them and I didn’t keep track close enough to know but I thought I read that they where receptive right after delivery which I thought was odd but apparently not unprecedented for rodents.

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Most rodents (I think most rodents do) have something called 'post partum estrus' which a heat cycle directly after giving birth so they can carry back to back pregnacies.

In regular pet store mice and rats it can be hard on their bodies to be pregnant 100% of the time. They also have a tendency to breed too young and get sick because their bodies aren't fully developed, which is why we separate young mice to keep incest to a minimum.

ASF's on the other hand can be kept together because they won't breed till full maturity (so I've been told). So I wondered if they we're smart enough to avoid back to back pregnancy too. Mcavana just said that they do get back to back pregnacy but unlike regular rats it doesn't hurt them. Which is cool.

I need to get me some ASF's! :)

i have 3 trios and when cleaning the tubs out last night I noticed another ASF is prego. so far so good, im just waiting on babies now. i am guessing this is the begining of my journey with ASF's. It does seem that the boy ASF's are waiting for the girls to mature. Which IMHO i would rather that. Thank you everyone for the advice and help.

ok so the first prego dropped 15 pups. i was monitoring the other prego and she only dropped 5 and there was another ASF that suprized me only dropped 3. so thats 3 different moms that dropped in the same weekend. now is there anything to be concerned with the low numbers from mom 2 and 3. and all are healthy so far.

the numbers are most likely more even then you think. few things to keep in mind:

1.) It is normal for mothers to either put all the babies(from multiple litters) in one pile, or to have individual nests where the babies from other litters are pulled from nest to nest depending on what the moms want to do.

2.) Sometimes a mom will give birth to one or two of her babies... and then not give birth to the rest for a few hours, or even a day.

Just because you see one mom nursing 15, and the others nursing only a few.... doesn't mean that some of those 15 are not from the other moms!

Mike

ok good to know! thanks alot.