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  1. #1
    BPnet Senior Member CALM Pythons's Avatar
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    Got a ASF colony.

    So I found a Colony of recently weaned ASF's and took the trip to get them Saturday.
    Ive looked at them and got them all setup but It is hard to sex them at this age with the Cotton Ball fur. I was told its around 4.6 when i got them. Ive read for hours and also watched every youtube video i can find and see mostly breeding 1.2, 1.3 or 1.4 groups like Norway's & Mice. The breeder I bought them from says they will breed fine in the Colony they're in? If this is so why do people separate them into smaller breeding groups? I will gladly read anyones experiences with breeding ASF's so I can learn and try some different things. I know all the basics already as far as the housing, food hoppers, glass water bottles/covering with Hardware cloth ect.. Im looking for Breeding info ect.. Thx


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    Name: Christian
    0.1 Albino Ball (Sophie)
    0.1 Russo White Diamond (Grace)
    1.0 Hypo Burmese (Giacomo/AKA Jock)
    1.2 Razors Edge/Gotti & American Pit Bull
    ----------
    1.1 Albino/Normal Burmese (Mr & Mrs Snake)
    1.0 Albino Ball (Sully)

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    GrendelUlf (08-23-2017)

  3. #2
    BPnet Veteran Seven-Thirty's Avatar
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    My colony is running a 1.4 but I plan on reducing that number soon to 1.3 or even a 1.2. A colony like that should be fine but you don't really need more than 1 male per colony and having a female heavy colony can result in pinks being smothered by the older pups due to the births not being around the same time. I'm currently having that problem with y colony and lost 8 pinks from a 9 pink litter due to them being smothered by the older litter of 12. One pink has made it surprisingly.

    They also breed like crazy. After the first litter is weaned, expect another litter of pinks to be dropped.

    Another thing to note is that they may cannibalize the pinks but my colony has only cannibalized the ones that already died but I've heard of mothers eating their entire litter for unknown reasons.

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    CALM Pythons (04-03-2017)

  5. #3
    BPnet Senior Member CALM Pythons's Avatar
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    Re: Got a ASF colony.

    Well then at this point maybe I will wait a couple months to see what mothers are doing best and either feed off the others or see if anyone local wants a colony... I wont need all the extra litters because I don't freeze.


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    Name: Christian
    0.1 Albino Ball (Sophie)
    0.1 Russo White Diamond (Grace)
    1.0 Hypo Burmese (Giacomo/AKA Jock)
    1.2 Razors Edge/Gotti & American Pit Bull
    ----------
    1.1 Albino/Normal Burmese (Mr & Mrs Snake)
    1.0 Albino Ball (Sully)

  6. #4
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    Re: Got a ASF colony.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Sully View Post
    So I found a Colony of recently weaned ASF's and took the trip to get them Saturday. Ive looked at them and got them all setup but It is hard to sex them at this age with the Cotton Ball fur. I was told its around 4.6 when i got them. Ive read for hours and also watched every youtube video i can find and see mostly breeding 1.2, 1.3 or 1.4 groups like Norway's & Mice. The breeder I bought them from says they will breed fine in the Colony they're in? If this is so why do people separate them into smaller breeding groups? ...



    Hi Chris. I was under the impression that colony was going into a 55 gallon glass tank (I thought that's what you had mentioned) and would not be kept in relatively small cages, like the one they were in when brought to you.

    The colony you have there could breed just fine in a 55 gallon. I spoke with a breeder at an expo last year who claims she has >100 ASF's (including pups) in a 40 gallon. I personally wouldn't recommend an enclosure that crowded, but it can be done.

    If you changed your mind about the 55g and will be using smaller enclosures you should split up that colony into smaller ones.

    I had recommended Mike Cavanaugh's posts. If you haven't already seen this one it's worth a read:
    https://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?89199-ASF-Tell-ALLS-Finally-decided-to-reveal-to-my-BP-net-brothers-and-sisters

    Have you seen the videos "
    ASF's in the kitchen" and "How to set up an African Soft Fur Rat colony" ?
    If not, copy/paste these links:
    youtube.com/watch?v=6waSUiMB_t4 especially hear what he says starting @ 8:10
    youtube.com/watch?v=_sgsoL98k9Q especially hear what he says starting @ 3:05

    Text me anytime, take care.

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    CALM Pythons (04-03-2017)

  8. #5
    BPnet Senior Member CALM Pythons's Avatar
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    Got a ASF colony.

    Yep Joe your right. There in a 55
    I have another 55 and a 40 breeder also if you have any other suggestions. All is great so far. I'll check the link out too.

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    Last edited by CALM Pythons; 04-03-2017 at 10:19 PM.
    Name: Christian
    0.1 Albino Ball (Sophie)
    0.1 Russo White Diamond (Grace)
    1.0 Hypo Burmese (Giacomo/AKA Jock)
    1.2 Razors Edge/Gotti & American Pit Bull
    ----------
    1.1 Albino/Normal Burmese (Mr & Mrs Snake)
    1.0 Albino Ball (Sully)

  9. #6
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    Is that a TV screen just above the 55? You might want to give em more privacy once the females start dropping litters. And ASF's are more nocturnal vs common rats, wanting to sleep mostly during the daylight hours.

    I like what you did with that water bottle.

    Before you refill the food holder poke around a bit in the bedding. They love to stash food. You could wake up one morning and find the whole thing empty, but that doesn't mean it's all been consumed. Then when you go to change the bedding you'll see layers and layers of food stashed away underneath.

    That box in the right corner won't last long they're gonna chew it up. When we start seeing plump females we toss in an almost finished roll of toilet paper or paper towel. The mothers will shred most of it and construct nests. The pups love running thru the cardboard rolls, if they're not already all chewed up.

    What kind of bedding is that? If you're not giving em wood pellets then toss in a small piece of 2x4 wood block for them to chew on. They need to chew and if they can satisfy that urge on something benign they will, otherwise expect them to climb up those wires, sooner or later, and get up near to the top of the tank and chew the plastic border where it meets your screen top.

    They will probably love those 2 exercise wheels you got in there. There are quite a few posts (I think they may be on that link I posted above) re wheels. Some say they decrease breeding rates. Others say the ASF's get their tails stuck in em. And I think I remember somebody saying the ASF's made so much noise on them that he couldn't get any sleep at night, then we he removed the wheels the ASFs fought constantly, supposedly coz they had too much extra energy. I can't comment re any of it coz I never used wheels.

    So, how's the smell? Nothing, right?

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    CALM Pythons (04-09-2017)

  11. #7
    BPnet Senior Member CALM Pythons's Avatar
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    Re: Got a ASF colony.

    No smell Bro. The wheels lasted one night, thats my Chill room so the TV is never on. I go in there and relax watching my Snakes im peace n Quiet. I put that tissue box in there for them to play with. I use old "out grown" PVC hides for Rat houses. They love to have babies in them and they work great.
    So far all is good and I still have them all together. I do have a few 10 gal tanks around and 2 other large ones for when i need to separate them. Im just rolling with it at this point. All the info out there really doesn't give step by step.. Its more showing the traditional 1/3 or 1/4 im tubs and how they split up the weaned into Male/Female Grow Out tanks after... So Im still not sure if i'll separate this group into a couple colonies or not. I figured Id just go with this until something changes my mind. If problems occur I'll figure it out then. One thing is for sure, they are fast as lightning and hard to catch and also cant sex them with the Cotton ball fur lol.
    If you ever have anything you want me to see/read send it my way


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Name: Christian
    0.1 Albino Ball (Sophie)
    0.1 Russo White Diamond (Grace)
    1.0 Hypo Burmese (Giacomo/AKA Jock)
    1.2 Razors Edge/Gotti & American Pit Bull
    ----------
    1.1 Albino/Normal Burmese (Mr & Mrs Snake)
    1.0 Albino Ball (Sully)

  12. #8
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    Re: Got a ASF colony.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Sully View Post
    ... All the info out there really doesn't give step by step... cant sex them with the Cotton ball fur lol. If you ever have anything you want me to see/read send it my way...
    There really is no "step by step" there's no one-size-fits-all recipe. By next year you'll be over the learning curve and will know what works best for you.

    re sexing them, soon they will become very easy to sex coz they will be having sex and the ones on top will be the males

    re more to read, if you haven't already seen this: http://www.metalmonkeyexotics.com/blog/?page_id=822 it's worth a read. I don't agree with everything he wrote, but it's food for thought.

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    CALM Pythons (04-14-2017)

  14. #9
    BPnet Senior Member CALM Pythons's Avatar
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    Re: Got a ASF colony.

    They really changed & grew this past week. Males are visible just like Norway's so now I got a handle on things


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Name: Christian
    0.1 Albino Ball (Sophie)
    0.1 Russo White Diamond (Grace)
    1.0 Hypo Burmese (Giacomo/AKA Jock)
    1.2 Razors Edge/Gotti & American Pit Bull
    ----------
    1.1 Albino/Normal Burmese (Mr & Mrs Snake)
    1.0 Albino Ball (Sully)

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