ASF Handling Tongs

[Chewy]

Do anyone use tongs to handle their ASF? if so, what kind do you use?

[RobNJ]

I use my hands...not a huge fan of the idea of handling live rodents with tongs.

[DooLittle]

No. At first someone had told us to grab their tails. But honestly, the rough handling seems to tick them off more, and make them meaner than just being nice to them. We just have to watch out for Daddy when we are in tank. He seems to be the nasty one. I guess he is protecting his family.

[evan385]

I tried using a pair of 16" non locking tongs and that just makes them more aggressive because it hurts. Since then I have gone back to picking them up by their tails. Picking them up by the tail doesn't seem to bother them much as long as you are careful but the tongs really pissed them off.

[Chewy]

I was thinking of padded feeding tongs and grabbing it by its tail.

[DooLittle]

I think that would just tick them off. Good luck hanging on to them too, those suckers are like popcorn.

[Chewy]

Man I hate rodents, but I gotta deal with them I guess... I never handle my rats ever. Not my norway rats either... I just get them on 1 side of the tub, clean half, go to the other half and clean, push some waste in 1 corner attempting totrain them to use that side only... Probably will do the same with these buggers.

Now I'm using large bins to put the home depot tubs in for them to crawl out, then scoop them up with a large animal feeder and put them back in the tub.... god I hate rodents.

[evan385]

Mine jump so I only pick them up by the tail so they can't escape because once they hit the ground they run and usually under something. If I had some pet quality ASFs I might handle them but since mine are just feeders, the only ones getting picked up are ones that will be fed off that night.

[Chewy]

Mine are all feeders too, I might breed them for pet stores if I get too many and start getting some cool stuff.... but I'll never keep one as a pet..

[Rhasputin]

If your stock is so violent that you have to consider handling them with tongs, get rid of them. :/

Not only that, but other posters are correct, using tongs will only make them want to bite more, because it's uncomfortable, and they can sense your fear and how uncomfortable you are.

I live with a person, who showed me a bin of rats she described as 'evil', so of course me being the ASF expert, I decided to find out how evil they were, because I've never seen a truely mean ASF before, I was curious! None of the trio bit me even once. I reached right in and scooped one up, and even set it on my shoulder while I handled the others.

In my opinion, and ASF can be handled with your bare hands, as long as you're not afraid of it, and you handle them gently. Picking them up by the tail, then gently setting their feet on the back of your opposite hand, seems to do the trick every time.