My ASF trio!

[littleindiangirl]

I'm hoping to get enough ASF to minimize the numbers I need from my regular rats. I won't ever get rid of my regular rats, but I'd like to focus differently with them in the future.

[littleindiangirl]

Very cute!

enjoy holding them now. Once the babies are here, that will be a distant memmory!

Robin, You are getting some devil dogs???? I thought you didn't like ASF's!? Why the change?


Mike

Speaking of which, I was giving bananas to them this morning, and the boy decided he didn't want to be held and took a nip at me. I surprised because I looked at my finger later and I was bleeding a bit. LOL, they are adorable. At least it didn't hurt!

[rabernet]

I'm hoping to get enough ASF to minimize the numbers I need from my regular rats. I won't ever get rid of my regular rats, but I'd like to focus differently with them in the future.

Same here - if they produce like bunnies like Ed's experiencing, then I may see about keeping my permanent collection on them. I've also heard positive feedback from people that their snakes convert easily from them to rats, so I'll also see what my experience will be. They certainly would be space savers!

[panthercz]

Cool!

Does anyone notice males growing faster than females? My males all shot past my females in terms of growth...

Oh and my wife found out the hard way that ASF's aren't nice. She tried picking one up last week and she said it was like picking up a little Tasmanian devil. Her finger paid the ultimate price...

[frankykeno]

I know my mature ASF male isn't all that much heftier than the females. Not nearly the size difference I see in my regular rats when you compare the big males to the females.

Perhaps when we breed more of these we'll switch more snakes over. For now they really are just for certain of our snakes, because I'm concerned about possibilities of prey imprinting as well as the ASF's taking a long time to hit mature size for our larger snakes. One of our bigger BP rescues can easily take 4 or 5 weanling ASF's at a feeding and that knocks down a litter of them pretty fast.

Other than that they aren't as easy to manage when it comes to cage cleaning. I really don't like having to handle them due to the tendency to bite first and think afterwards LOL. I'm so used to my mild mannered regular rats that when I have to move ASF's to do a full enclosure clean, I go get Mike to do it. They are also, for me anyways, WAY harder to sex at a young age and I'm finding I make a lot of mistakes trying to seperate them by gender to grow out enclosures.

At this point we have all the ASF's in glass but I'd love to hear people's experience keeping them in plastic bins in racks. I'm concerned about chewing out and escapes. We had one get away on us, we did manage to catch her 2 days later but I lived in dread of a feral colony of ASF's infesting this massive, old house.

[littleindiangirl]

how big are asfs? do they get the same size as normal rats?

Those ones right there are about the same size as a mouse... and they guy we got them from said they are weaned. I don't know how many weeks that is, but they sure are small. When I got them I was expecting the size of a gerbil or something LOL. I dont know why I was expecting that, but I'm really hoping these little guys breed like crazy.

[monk90222]

At this point we have all the ASF's in glass but I'd love to hear people's experience keeping them in plastic bins in racks. I'm concerned about chewing out and escapes. We had one get away on us, we did manage to catch her 2 days later but I lived in dread of a feral colony of ASF's infesting this massive, old house.

I have half of my ASF groups in plastic bins and racks....I put pieces of wood and timothy hay in with them to keep them occupied...But so far (knocks on wood) I have no problem with chewing the plastic...

on a side note..I switched all of my mousers to ASF..very easily...I feel that an ASF is a hardier meal instead of a few mice...but thats just me...

[monk90222]

Those ones right there are about the same size as a mouse... and they guy we got them from said they are weaned. I don't know how many weeks that is, but they sure are small. When I got them I was expecting the size of a gerbil or something LOL. I dont know why I was expecting that, but I'm really hoping these little guys breed like crazy.

Weaner ASF's are about 2" or so..they look so small and young but they are weaned...lol

[Mike Cavanaugh]

At this point we have all the ASF's in glass but I'd love to hear people's experience keeping them in plastic bins in racks. I'm concerned about chewing out and escapes. We had one get away on us, we did manage to catch her 2 days later but I lived in dread of a feral colony of ASF's infesting this massive, old house.

All of mine are in glass... you don't want to take a chance with devil dogs. even one escapee would be a disaster. They can thrive on very little water, and little food. and they reproduce better then any other rodent I know of. not a nice recepie for a loose rodent in the house.

Plus, I think we really need to be careful with them as a society. If a few of them get loose, and start doing there thing, I GUARANTEE you they will become totally and completely illegal in the states. To be honest, I am surprised there isn't already a ban on them. Once they get out there, they will be here for good. You think people get freaked out about a few loose snakes? Wait until a neighbor catches the first ASF that is "invading the neighborhood."

Lets be careful folks.

Mike

[OhBalls]

I must raise big rats then because no way my adult ASF's are the size of my medium rats LOL. I'd say an adult ASF is about 2 to 2.5 times bigger (by weight) than an adult mouse.

Sounds about right.....regular rats don't make it that long around here ....so I'm thinking medium to be slightly larger than an ASF ....also, I only breed asf....not regular rats so I tend to buy for appropriate size....but you're right they are about 2, 2.5 the size of adult mice...i agree