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Registered User
African Rat husbandry
Well, I checked out TekWarrens afro-rat forum but I couldn't post on it (technical difficulties) so I thought I would ramble about my rats here
I am just getting started with these rats but hope to expand them later down the road. I will be putting my colony in a 20 long soon and using my crittertrail (which SUCKS to clean) as a maternity or hospital tank..whatever I need it for. I use pine as bedding but may switch to aspen.
For food I actually do use dog food....ok, hear me out. I bought a large bag of senior wellness (senior by mistake) and my dogs looked at me and laughed. I didn't want to waste it so I gave a few pieces to my rats. They flipped out over it. It has lower levels of protein (can't really remember off hand how much) and a lot of good stuff in it such as peas, etc. I tried lab block but all they seemed to do with it is throw it all over and pee on it...so much for that idea. I mix the dog food with high quality parrot mix and assorted lafaber products that my parrot doesn't want. I also feed Exact rodent food. They seem to like the fruity stuff. I also give them low fat, low sugar cereal as a treat from time to time and unsalted nuts. They get the odd piece of fruit (dried and fresh, I am big on fruit, as is the parrot) and the odd table scrap that is low fat/salt/sugar. They seem to be thriving on this mix. I also give them hard pasta pieces to chew on. They are growing and breeding and I coulnd't be happier.
So any other african soft furred rat owners want to share? My breeding is purely hobby and for my one snake so I don't have rack systems or anything big and fancy. They are my part time pets and Stryker's full time menu.
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Registered User
Re: African Rat husbandry
I just read Becky's mix and a lot of what I feed my guys was covered there! COol....Although she was talking for regular rats but I guess an asf rat would need similar nutritional needs...
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Re: African Rat husbandry
Right now I have mine in tanks. I feed exclusively mazuri diet(in an attempt to raise litter size). I have been told by someone who bred spiny mice that a bird mix was totally the way to go. The particular one she likes in particular is for game chickens(since it censored what I called them the first time) and has things like chickpeas in it. I haven't yet gone out to get that, but once I do, I'll have a 1.1 set up in a 10G that eat JUST that.
When I was feeding lab block/dog food/fruits/pasta etc mixed up, I got LOUSY results as far as breeding. I've also got them in various combos of 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, and a subadult(becoming adults) of 7 in a big 40 breeder tank. I also have some young weanlings in another 10 g. I'll be using those weanlings as food.
I'm over on that site too, but it's not really active yet. I expect it'll continue to grow however!
Wolfy
Theresa Baker
No Legs and More
Florida, USA
"Stop being a wimpy monkey,; bare some teeth, steal some food and fling poo with the alphas. "
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Registered User
Re: African Rat husbandry
Well, so far my litter sizes are not impressive. First litter was twelve, second litter was 8. Both litters came from same female and original male (whom I fed off). All the remaining rats live together for right now and I want to see how that goes. If there are problems I will seperate but the original litter only has 2 males and the rest are all female. There "shouldn't" be any problems but I will see. Like I said, I want to expand but right now space is an issue. PLus I only have one snake and since these guys don't make great pets (as far as handling anyways) I don't think anyone around me wants to buy any.
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BPnet Veteran
Re: African Rat husbandry
Your account was not activated over at the asfats.info...you should have gotten an email when you registered but I went ahead and activate you
Regarding food I will be doing some changes also I am finishing off a cheaper brand block food that I think is to high in protein. I also toss in a seed mix or just plain sunflower seed and they love that stuff but I keep it down to just a couple days a week.
I just sold a starter group of 2.4 yesterday so the fire spreads! Feel free to post your questions and experiences at the other site we are building up a wealth of info.
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