First African soft-furred litter!

[TekWarren]

I got a trio of these guys a few weeks back and for last week or so could tell one of the females was pregnant. Well she had her babies last night sometime so I got up to a nice suprise! Supposedly they are supposed to be able to have large litters but this one was pretty small at about 8 or 9. I'm not dissapointed though its her first litter and I am just happy to see them producing already. The hair on the babies is amazing at less than a day old:

Smaller Pic

Larger Pic

[Rapture]

I've been interested in these... can you post pics of the parents?

[TekWarren]

You can get to the main gallery for these guys from the links above but here is the direct link:

Edit: the mother of this litter is the tanish colored one with red eyes.

African Rat's

They are neat rodents, the hair...fur is really something different from common rats/mice. They have virtually no smell and are very clean animals. I wouldn't have purchased these just because the prices are/where a little ridiculous at $50-$75 per trio. I got these from a guy on another forum who came up to a show and did some trading with me. He said he is 80% of his personal animals switched and couldn't be happier. I am looking at doing the same but will continue to keep mice and maybe some rats to raise any reptiles I would plan on selling.

[Regal Boids]

Would you be willing to sell some of those rats? If you want I have a snake I would be willing to trade.

[frankykeno]

Wow I can't believe the hair growth on them so quickly! Very cool Heath! Me being a nut about rat breeding of course there's going to be a ton of questions here LOL.

Why use these over the more traditional domesticated rat? How are the temperments of the adults you currently have? Any difference in husbandry, hardiness or litter production? Are they known to be good parents as domesticated rats are usually i.e. is the male safe with his young? do the females generally accept their young readily? Any known difference in acceptance as a prey item by snakes? Can one feed some of these and some domestic rats or has this ever been tried to your knowledge? What is the difference in size at maturity and do they reach larger sizes more quickly? Are the stages of growth as nursing young comparable to domesticated rats or are they larger/smaller or quicker to pass through those stages to weanling size?

I know I can find some of this with research (which I will be doing tonight) but I always prefer some first person information/actual experience as well.

[Emilio]

Wow I can't believe the hair growth on them so quickly! Very cool Heath! Me being a nut about rat breeding of course there's going to be a ton of questions here LOL.

Why use these over the more traditional domesticated rat? How are the temperments of the adults you currently have? Any difference in husbandry, hardiness or litter production? Are they known to be good parents as domesticated rats are usually i.e. is the male safe with his young? do the females generally accept their young readily? Any known difference in acceptance as a prey item by snakes? Can one feed some of these and some domestic rats or has this ever been tried to your knowledge? What is the difference in size at maturity and do they reach larger sizes more quickly? Are the stages of growth as nursing young comparable to domesticated rats or are they larger/smaller or quicker to pass through those stages to weanling size?

I know I can find some of this with research (which I will be doing tonight) but I always prefer some first person information/actual experience as well.

Great question's Joanna you hit everything on the head. I two was surprised with the hair they look cool.

[frankykeno]

Great question's Joanna you hit everything on the head. I two was surprised with the hair they look cool.

I have a VERY enquiring mind!

[TekWarren]

I'll do my best with your questions as I'm new to these rodents myself but here goes:

Why use them?

Well for me it was the smell factor mostly. Even when raising rats/mice on a good diet and frequent cleanings they still have "that" smell. I keep them all in my house and have family friends always wanting to see the animals. Also this room doubles as our computer room/office. My wife and I both have computers in here and at times can be in the room for long periods. Also this species is supposed to be one that ball pythons actually consume natively in the wild.

Temperments?

I provide the utmost care to my rodents and have a genuine interest in them and their breeding, but I rarely "handle" any of them aside from cleaning or feeding days. From my observations these rats are MUCH less skittish and jumpy as adults. In my mouse tubs there is a first reaction generally of mice skittering into their hides or the corners of the tub when I first remove the lid. With these rats they seem to care less and are even curios and stand up to see what I'm doing. I have read that they can be quite "bitey" at times but haven't given them that chance yet. There has been zero conflict in the tub between the trio which includes one female that is noticeably smaller/younger. They almost always sleep as a "family".

Husbandry?

I am housing these rats the same exact way I do my rats mice. They are on aspen bedding in a good sized tub with hardware cloth replacing the center area of the tub. Food blocks always available and they transitioned over from a mix/seed diet without issue. They consume very little water throughout a week.

Hardiness/Litters?

Only having had these guys about a month I can't say with accuracy on their hardiness. I've read they are quite hardy and haven't had any problems myself in the short time so far. From reeding this species is capable of supporting large litters and females have an average of 8-12 teats! Litters are supposedly around 6-12 but from others keeping them they report generally large litters most of the time. As you saw above they are born with hair!

Parenting/acceptance?

The female who gave birth appears to be very attentive to her young as much so as regular rats/mice. She has been leaving the litter today only for food and water. While she away for a short time eating, the younger female actually took over sitting over the babies keeping them warm and cleaning them. I have not attempted to remove the male and he has posed absolutely no threat or even bothered the young at all. I've only checked in twice on the young and none of them appear to be neglected in any way and no visible "runts".

As prey items?

In talking with others these have started to become popular because of the feeding responce they can invoke on problem feeding snakes. As said above this rat is something that a ball python would encounter as a food item in the wild. Supposedly this fact *can* invoke great feeding responces especially in problem feeders and wild caught snakes. I have no experience in this yet as I'm just building up colony at this point. I would say that mixing these with domestic rodents and the success of doing so really depends on the reptile. We all know how ball pythons can be with prey items, so it would really depend on the specific animal and its preference or tolerance to different foods.

Size/growth?

They do not get as big as our normal rats by any means. When asking my wife for her comparison she said they are about 3x the size of an adult mouse and I would agree. The female that just gave birth is a little bit larger than the male. In talking to the person I got these from he really suggested I take pictures of the babies every other day and then compare them so I can see just how fast they really do grow. He tells me they mature quite fast from "pink" to hopper. From reading: eyes open in about 2 weeks, weaned at 21-24 days, and sexual maturity is reached at 3.5 months.

Most of the specifics are going of one of the very few places I have been able to obtain actual info. The site I see most referenced and which has been my main source of info is here: http://www.jirds.cwc.net/rag/profiles/nmmr.htm

I'll keep doing a photo every other day to document growth and keep this topic updated. Any other questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer them

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

WOW They are so cute. I will stick with domestic rats until you deliver some of those up here to me in Nebraska!! lol

[recycling goddess]

leaving the male in with the female... isn't there a good chance she's going to get pregnant right away? wouldn't it be as detrimental to these rats as to our 'normal' rats to get pregnant right away?