Great idea ...I have considered that....I won't use a metal wheel for any long tailed rodent as I have pulled one too many tangled tails out of them...a solid wheel would work great if I could find a metal one.....
hmmmm.....there's an idea for a weekend project!
We do use the small wire wheels from Walmart (less than $5) for the ASF's and I've yet to have any tail injury issues.
Originally Posted by Corrupter
I am thinking of switching over to only ASF's mainly because they have NO odor that I can smell. I got my first trio in march and havent changed the bedding yet. It doesnt appear soiled and still smells like fresh-cut wood shavings. Should I change it anyway??? I have probably changed my rat bedding about 3 times since then... How often do you guys completely clean the cages out for ASF's? Also, I know ASF's take longer to grow, but how long does it actually take to reach their adult size? A few months? More?
Even if you can't detect an odor you do need to change bedding on a reasonable schedule. Just because you can't smell their pee doesn't mean they aren't walking on urine soaked bedding after enough time has gone by.
Funny thing I've noticed with both our breeding colonies is that the females seem to thrive on breeding back to back litters. I've always avoided that with my regular rats because it does seem to run the females down a bit but these ASF females seem to do very well with it. I've watched them closely and with every litter the females seem to bulk up even more until they are as big or bigger than my males. Granted it does look to me to be a group run by the dominant female(s) so they do tend to get to the food bowls first, but I thought any female animal nursing a litter while carrying one, producing so much, would just naturally be a bit drained. My breeder females are big, husky ladies just bursting with good health which is nice to see.
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Originally Posted by OhBalls
...I have considered that....I won't use a metal wheel for any long tailed rodent as I have pulled one too many tangled tails out of them...a solid wheel would work great if I could find a metal one.....