African Soft Fur (Rat Family)

are they so great to a snake that they wouldnt want to go back to regular rats/mice? why would it be so bad for a snake to switch to regular if it was bought as a ASF feeder?

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Originally Posted by Wolfsnaps

Well, all I know for sure is that my rat had a nice healthy litter of 12 which surprised me...for one, I didn't realize she was pregnant (and I am usually very observant) and for 2, 12 for a first litter...But no, I never sat down and counted teats, I don't think they would appreciate that very much :)

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Was that unusual for you with regular rats? Mine have at least 12, even with their first litters, but often more than that.

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Originally Posted by BaLLPAddICT

are they so great to a snake that they wouldnt want to go back to regular rats/mice? why would it be so bad for a snake to switch to regular if it was bought as a ASF feeder?

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Before someone jumps to an answer they probably don't really know the answer to I'll make a statement to this. Weather or not an individual animal will go from one prey item to another is entirely dependent on the animal itself. We all know BP's *can* be picky but this does not mean that once you start feeding ASF's that you could not change back to mice or domestic rats. Some may not, some may. I am feeding my personal animals all on ASF's now but while i was transitioning I had no issues with domestic rodents being accepted even after they had taken ASF's. This does not mean it works...it means it worked for me, your animals and experience will vary.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I'm just saying, all "normal" rats (what most of us commonly breed) have 12 teats. It did say that it was uncommon in smaller rodents, so it must have been in comparison to mice (I'm unaware of how many teats they have).

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Sorry to bring up an old thread, but just to clarify on the whole ASR teats issue. Normal rats usually have 12 teats, where as ASF's will have anywhere from 8-12 pairs of teats. So anywhere from 18-24 teats. Even as many as 16-18 pairs of teats have been seen in some females.

Ill add on to this one a bit too...ive Never seen an asf eater switch back to mice...and ive never seen an ASF eater that wont take regular rats

I LOVE feeding ASFs to my babies hatchlings grow nice and fast and always switch to normal rats when htey get to size but the problem with using them as feeders for adults is that they take a LONG time to get big enuff to use as food for adult Bps

Why do snake owners feed regular rats? Because their are cheap, highly available in live or frozen, very intelligetent, and it does take time to switch animals from prey items.

Some times regular rats are hard to find, more so, the ASF are almost non-existant. If the number of ASF breeders and wholesalers was just as high as regular rats, I see no reason why they would not be used just as much.

Besides the whole over protective of young issue.

I have chosen ASF's because they don't get "too big" for my balls (unlike rats)

I am breeding my own, so supply is not an issue. Also, their natural smell is nothing compared to my mouse and rat breeders.

In my opinion, they are the best thing since sliced bread!


Mike

I've had my ASFs for a little while now and I absolutely love them! Both of my problem eater balls are back on track 100% with these rodents. One of them will even take the regular rats every time now. I haven't tried regular rats with the other ball yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if the ASFs help jump start a sporatic eater into taking the regular rats again. I have real mixed feelings about ball pythons being imprint feeders. I think it has a lot more to do with an individual snake, not a whole species. The biggest con I find with the ASFs is that it takes quite a while to grow the babies up into decent sized meals. But I am glad that they will never outgrow feeder size for my adult balls.

Hi,

Do you think they might work well to kickstart fussy eaters if kept frozen but used to scent regular rats?

I was wondering if it might be worthwhile tracking one down for this purpose.


dr del

I am getting my first trio this weekend. My biggest reason is size. All but 3 of my snakes are not big enough to eat med to large rats. So my rats grow so fast that they actually grow out of what I have avl to feed. I am hoping that I can fix this. I have not only b/p's but corns as well.

I am excited. I hope they do well. LOL I was just fixing up their cage. Since they can chew I got a nice wire 1/4 x 1/4 mesh lined my cage, put a feeder in and wala I hope they like their new digs.