African Soft-Furred Rats

[Flagg]

My first female is an aggressive biter, and VERY rarely one or 2 others but only if I'm disturbing their nests.

I wear thick leather gardening gloves when dealing with the nasty female, but no gloves needed when dealing with the other tanks. I still don't attempt to hold them though, quick grab at the base of the tail and move immediately to the waiting enclosure.

To me, it's a plus that they aren't all cuddly and nice like domestic rats. Makes it much easier to kill them or feed them off.

[coldbloodaddict]

[lillyorchid]

Oh yeah I think I'll be investing in a nice, thick, heavy duty pair of gloves very soon.

Ed, yes the girl at the store tried to pick them up by their tails. X_X

Flagg, I have no problem feeding off little mean snits!


Does anyone here know of if you need to own a license for these animals? Some lady on another forum said I'd need a USDA license. On Heath;s forum, I've been told that I do not since they don't fall under the federal stuff... but to look into the State laws on them. So far I've found absolutely nothing on or about them with Maryland. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places on the Internet?

I have no problem getting a license if need be, but I don't want to "illegally' own these animals and get busted when I can't seem to find anything about them and Maryland exotic pet laws. Any help would be great!

[lord jackel]

Does anyone here know of if you need to own a license for these animals? Some lady on another forum said I'd need a USDA license. On Heath;s forum, I've been told that I do not since they don't fall under the federal stuff... but to look into the State laws on them. So far I've found absolutely nothing on or about them with Maryland. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places on the Internet?

I have no problem getting a license if need be, but I don't want to "illegally' own these animals and get busted when I can't seem to find anything about them and Maryland exotic pet laws. Any help would be great!

Just to give you the quick background...several years ago there was an outbreak of Monkey Pox carried by ASF (amoung others) so the governement outlawed them from importation. All the current colonies are pre-ban so no license is needed (and shouldn't be carriers). However, if for some reason you wanted to bring in new blood lines from Africa then you would need a license from the FDA and USDA. This is the federal law...as for your state you would need to check but I wouldn't expect to find anything as Maryland isn't a typical import destination for animals.

[TekWarren]

Adding a chunk of wood or something like Ed mentioned is top notch advice. I haven't had to much of a chewing issue on my tubs but they definitely chew on the wood. In some tubs I'll toss in bits of untreated wood and in others I've made crude wooden hide boxes they like to chew, climb, and sleep in. I use a mesh "column" that hangs from the lid of my tubs that holds both food and the water bottles...before doing this it frustrating losing water bottles!

[Flagg]

Actually, ASF rats were not included in the original monkeypox scare, it was gambian pouched rats, groundhogs and some other african rodents. Since then there has been a general ban on ALL imports of African rodents of any kind.

[ECLARK]

Warren, next time going past a petsmart pick up a couple super pet chew proof bottles and you wont lose any more water bottles. they are all glass and metal.

Adding a chunk of wood or something like Ed mentioned is top notch advice. I haven't had to much of a chewing issue on my tubs but they definitely chew on the wood. In some tubs I'll toss in bits of untreated wood and in others I've made crude wooden hide boxes they like to chew, climb, and sleep in. I use a mesh "column" that hangs from the lid of my tubs that holds both food and the water bottles...before doing this it frustrating losing water bottles!

[lillyorchid]

Yeah, I put a piece of a branch in there with them... they were going to town on it last night! The water bottle I have right now has one of those metal guards on it, so far they have not figured out how to get past that. Also the little buggers can jump! One was jumping up and hitting the screen top on their 10 gallon tank this morning. Looked like he had springs in those little legs.

[4theSNAKElady]

Why would someone have these lil "possum lookin" cuties if you can't hold em?

[BaLLPAddICT]

Why would someone have these lil "possum lookin" cuties if you can't hold em?

They're used as feeders. Snakes love them and generally prefer them over any rat or mouse.

What pet store did you find them at? I've been looking for some in my area but I didn't think pet stores had them yet since they were too aggresive to be pets.