ASF Questions

[Schaub]

I bought 10 (5 males and 5 females) ASF a few days ago. They are all weanlings and I currently have them in the same 58qt tub.

I understand that breeding groups are one male and several females, but how many is too much for that tub?

Is it okay to have more than one male per tub? Or will they fight when they get older?

Do they need several hides/nesting boxes? Now, I have one small cardboard box that they all hide in together and 2 toilet paper tubes. Will the females want more options when they have babies so they can keep away from the group?

Is it okay to keep their food in a small bowl or should they have a hopper?

Thanks for looking!

[MootWorm]

I bought 10 (5 males and 5 females) ASF a few days ago. They are all weanlings and I currently have them in the same 58qt tub.

I understand that breeding groups are one male and several females, but how many is too much for that tub?

Is it okay to have more than one male per tub? Or will they fight when they get older?

Do they need several hides/nesting boxes? Now, I have one small cardboard box that they all hide in together and 2 toilet paper tubes. Will the females want more options when they have babies so they can keep away from the group?

Is it okay to keep their food in a small bowl or should they have a hopper?

Thanks for looking!

I've heard that they'll fight although I don't have any personal experience with that. I keep mine in 1.3 or 1.4 groups. I usually provide a few hides because my girls like to make two giant piles of babies lol. They don't really separate them by who belongs to who, they kind of mix and match the pinks when they're little.

I'd say either do the hopper (you'll save on food, it's cleaner, etc) or just dump the food directly on the floor. That's where it will end up anyway if you have a dish And the dish will just become a toilet/chew toy.


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[el8ch]

I'd say either do the hopper (you'll save on food, it's cleaner, etc) or just dump the food directly on the floor. That's where it will end up anyway if you have a dish And the dish will just become a toilet/chew toy.

Hopper

We have the tops of our ASF tubs grated and we throw our Mazuri on top so the Adults can just eat at liesure without making a horrible mess.

Sub-Adults get hoppers for the same reason, saves on food big time imo.

[Schaub]

Thanks for the advice.

You both said that a hopper would save on food, I don't exactly understand how.

As for seed-type food, I assume just on the floor is fine?

As for water, they have a water bottle now, but some of my little guys seem to have a hard time with the water bottle, especially when there are several who decide they're thirsty at the same time. If I get a small metal/ceramic dish, do you think that would be okay for an additional water source or will it be a bad idea?

My boys get along great for now, but like I said, they are young still. Which led me to thinking, how old should babies be before they need to be separated?

In my current situation, would you separate them into 1.2 and 1.3 groups and feed off the other 3 boys? Or 1.5 and feed off the rest? Or something else?

And out of curiosity: How many breeding groups do you have versus the number of snakes you keep?

Thanks again for looking.

[MootWorm]

Thanks for the advice.

You both said that a hopper would save on food, I don't exactly understand how.

As for seed-type food, I assume just on the floor is fine?

As for water, they have a water bottle now, but some of my little guys seem to have a hard time with the water bottle, especially when there are several who decide they're thirsty at the same time. If I get a small metal/ceramic dish, do you think that would be okay for an additional water source or will it be a bad idea?

My boys get along great for now, but like I said, they are young still. Which led me to thinking, how old should babies be before they need to be separated?

In my current situation, would you separate them into 1.2 and 1.3 groups and feed off the other 3 boys? Or 1.5 and feed off the rest? Or something else?

And out of curiosity: How many breeding groups do you have versus the number of snakes you keep?

Thanks again for looking.

If its not in a hopper, they'll throw the food on the ground, pee on it, bury it, anything you can imagine they'll do to it lol. Then it'll get gross and you'll dump it, that's where your waste is. I'd do two groups just n case there's something wrong with the one male. I'd feed off the additional males. Or if they're too small, you can keep them together to grow them out. I have a 3.0 group I'm growing out, they get along great. I'm sure if I throw a lady in there all hell would break out.

I have 5 snakes and 3 breeding groups. I just retired my one 1.4 group, fed off the male and now I'm just waiting for all the little ones to grow up. I also have regular rats since my balls getting too big for ASF and they take awhile to get to size. At one point I had wayyy too many ASF, but I feed f/t so it's not a problem. I'm actually needing to ramp up production since I sell some on Craigslist and there's a huge demand. If you go that route, they pay for themselves.

[I-KandyReptiles]

I bought 10 (5 males and 5 females) ASF a few days ago. They are all weanlings and I currently have them in the same 58qt tub.

I understand that breeding groups are one male and several females, but how many is too much for that tub?

Is it okay to have more than one male per tub? Or will they fight when they get older?

Do they need several hides/nesting boxes? Now, I have one small cardboard box that they all hide in together and 2 toilet paper tubes. Will the females want more options when they have babies so they can keep away from the group?

Is it okay to keep their food in a small bowl or should they have a hopper?

Thanks for looking!

I've never tried anything with more than one male. I'm assuming theyd eventually fight as they grow up.

I've done 1:3 all the way to 1:9 with success.

I don't give hides as they never used them anyways. I thought maybe they'd have their babies inside but they'd rather put them in a corner, uncovered.

A hopper will be better. I just dump their food on the aspen.

[11anthony]

I've tried hoppers before and all it did was waste food. My AFS would just "play" around with their food if I leave it in a hopper, turning my rodent lab blocks into dust/small crumbs overnight. Now all I do is dump a certain amount each day in to the bedding to insure that it won't go to waste.

[Schaub]

Thanks for the input everyone, it's very much appreciated.

I think I'll wait on the hopper for now and try just putting in a few blocks like Anthony.If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have learned the hard way.

Do you guys feed your ASF seeds? If so how often? Mine love it, but I don't know how often to give them new. Daily? Weekly?

Bobbafett, what did you keep your 1:9 in? I want to make sure my ASF aren't too crowded. I will probably split them into two groups because what MootWorm said about something possibly being wrong with one of the boys made a lot of sense. That said, they seem content for now, so I don't mind leaving them together for a bit longer.

[MootWorm]

I've tried hoppers before and all it did was waste food. My AFS would just "play" around with their food if I leave it in a hopper, turning my rodent lab blocks into dust/small crumbs overnight. Now all I do is dump a certain amount each day in to the bedding to insure that it won't go to waste.

So yours would crumble them through the bars/mesh and leave the crumbles on the floor? Weird. I've never had that happen. Although I give mine TP rolls, Popsicle sticks and other stuff to keep em occupied so maybe that's why.

[I-KandyReptiles]

I was using a big 40 gallon for my 1:9.