african rats - and back to normal rats?

[recycling goddess]

*rubbing hands together* it's working... it's working!!!! *menacing laughter drifts off into the fog*

[Wolfsnaps]

I suppose I could chime in here, not that it is much different than what everyone else has said. I breed asf rats. I started around december...so not that long ago. I was very curious about whether my ball python would get hooked on this new prey. I fed him a live asf rat (keep in mind he has been eating f/t rat pups) and he was thrilled with the new diet. I fed him live asf rats about three more times with success. Then, I decided to try a f/t....he refused. My heart sank, I didnt want to have to breed these rats forever! I waited a week, then tried again...only this time I made sure the f/t rat pup really put on a show for my snake...I did the rat zombie dance and he struck and ate it. Then I tried a live asf rat the next week. SUCCESS...then I alternated to a f/t regular rat....and he ate it. But then he went into a fast and refused EVERYTHING for about a month so now he is on live asf rats again.....he refused it three times but he happily started eating again (thank goodness!)

So what have I learned? Well, my snake doesn't seem to be too picky about it unless he is fasting. Then, he wants nothing at all. I feel it comes down to proper husbandry and the snake itself. I probably will breed asf rats for a long time because I enjoy it, its new, its easy and practical, and stryker likes it too. If I were a breeder, I would probably not feed asf rats in case you get picky snakes in the clutch and seeing as how asf rats aren't quite available everywhere, it isn't smart. More breeders of asf rats need to experiment and record their findings and even still I doubt we will have a definitive answer.

I think if you are keeping the snake and don't mind breeding the asf rats, its the way to go....

[recycling goddess]

do you think, perhaps that the reason you ended up with the fast was because you were alternating back and forth between prey items in such a short period of time?

[Rapture]

from the knowledge i've gathered, it seems you are more likely to get a mouse eating ball to take ratties and less likely to get a rattie eating ball to take mice.

What?

[Rapture]

true... but how many of those wild caughts never do eat. how many die instead?

VPI states in their book, Pythons of the World Vol. II, that the only WC animals they still purchase are new expensive morphs, and they have not lost one as a result of not being able to transition to being kept in captivity. If you acquire a wild-caught animal and do not understand how to transition them, then yes, they are easy to kill. I don't think this has anything to do with what type of prey item you are offering.

[recycling goddess]

from the knowledge i've gathered, it seems you are more likely to get a mouse-eating ball python to take ratties and less likely to get a rattie-eating ball python to take mice.

does that help?

[Wild Bill]

I suppose I could chime in here, not that it is much different than what everyone else has said. I breed asf rats. I started around december...so not that long ago. I was very curious about whether my ball python would get hooked on this new prey. I fed him a live asf rat (keep in mind he has been eating f/t rat pups) and he was thrilled with the new diet. I fed him live asf rats about three more times with success. Then, I decided to try a f/t....he refused. My heart sank, I didnt want to have to breed these rats forever! I waited a week, then tried again...only this time I made sure the f/t rat pup really put on a show for my snake...I did the rat zombie dance and he struck and ate it. Then I tried a live asf rat the next week. SUCCESS...then I alternated to a f/t regular rat....and he ate it. But then he went into a fast and refused EVERYTHING for about a month so now he is on live asf rats again.....he refused it three times but he happily started eating again (thank goodness!)

So what have I learned? Well, my snake doesn't seem to be too picky about it unless he is fasting. Then, he wants nothing at all. I feel it comes down to proper husbandry and the snake itself. I probably will breed asf rats for a long time because I enjoy it, its new, its easy and practical, and stryker likes it too. If I were a breeder, I would probably not feed asf rats in case you get picky snakes in the clutch and seeing as how asf rats aren't quite available everywhere, it isn't smart. More breeders of asf rats need to experiment and record their findings and even still I doubt we will have a definitive answer.

I think if you are keeping the snake and don't mind breeding the asf rats, its the way to go....

I think the problem with your situation was more from switching back and forth from live to F/t. I think if you were going back and forth with live ASF and regular rats you wouldn't have any problem.

[Rapture]

does that help?

What I don't understand is why it would be easier for a ball to switch from mice to rats than from rats to mice.

[recycling goddess]

from what i've read... rats seem to be yummier.

as i said in my original post... it's from the knowledge i've gathered... not scientific research, just from listening to others experiences.

[ECLARK]

Big concern was feeding ASF rats for awhile then trying to switch back to regulars and have the BP'S not accept the regulars again. so Im useing the ASF rats for only the problem feeders and getting slow starters to start feeding, Im surprised at how they will eat ASF rats when they wont even look at anything else. my thoughts about these smaller rats would keep me from having to dispose of X number of regular rats every week because they just got to big to feed. I hate the ASF rats and they presented me with to many problems and I choose not to work with them any longer. if I need a few I will just buy them.

something I wanted to add. wild caught Balls that would almost never feed on anything will almost always take ASF rats.

anyone tried feeding these african rats to their snakes for any period of time and then seeing if they'll transfer effortlessly over to normal ratties?

i'm curious because if someone gets their snakes on these 'specialty' ratties and then the snakes are sold/rehomed to someone who only has normal ratties... will they eat?