African Soft-Furred Rats

[lillyorchid]

I'm on the African Soft-Furred Rats bandwagon. Yesterday while at a little local pet store I saw that they had some ASFR's. So last night I read up on them, got a basic gist on and how to care for them. Thanks A LOT Heath for answering my questions! Today I went back and bought a trio of 1 male and 2 females. Set them up and they are good to go. They are adorable but I won't dare to touch them. The girl who got them for me had one latch onto her hand... yeah that wasn't pretty!





Last thing... does anyone know anything about needing a license from the USDA to own these animals? I was told today by someone that I'll need one here in Maryland, but I've not been able to find anything about it.

[AzureN1ght]

Oh. My. Gosh! They are SO cute...I just want to cuddle them I imagine seeing one bite the snot out of some girl is a deterrant...but I don't know if I could keep from holding one for long.

[lord jackel]

Oh. My. Gosh! They are SO cute...I just want to cuddle them I imagine seeing one bite the snot out of some girl is a deterrant...but I don't know if I could keep from holding one for long.

They are mean...don't let their cute looks fool you. Whenever I open their cages they stare at me and if I make a move toward them the male comes after me . So now I wear gloves whenever I work with them.

But the biting is really a minor issue - they stay small, don't stink and so far breed great.

[lord jackel]

Allison...I am sure Heath told you but if not he started a great site about them to share info on for all us new breeders.


http://www.asfrats.info/index.php

See you there.

[Sausage]

Aww... they look like little possums!

[Flagg]

Nice pics. I breed ASF rats as well and got rid of my mice once I got them breeding.

Do all of yours look the same? black coat, white head and white tail area? If so then all the babies will look exactly like those. And a dilute (tan) version of the same if you have the pink eye dilute gene in them.

At first all that mattered was the producstion. Now that they are breeding so well, I'm actually trying to breed them for the various possible coat types and colors.