3 legged ASF... creepy.

[Bruce Whitehead]

I was pulling ASFs to take to an expo today.

And as I was sexing juvies in my grow out tub, I noticed that one of them only has 3 legs... at first I thought it had been chewed off, but when I looked closer I could see the perfectly round belly, and the leg bones kicking from under the skin.

Creepy...

And when I got to the show I noticed that one of the rats I had taken had no ears... WTF?

Anyone else seen something similar. I have heard of the sort of *ratty* looking failure to thrive ASFs, but not of deformed ones.

I put babes in this tub from 4 different breeding groups, so I cannot (at this time locate where they came from. But all my ASFs are from an original 2.2 pairing I got, and I am uncertain as to their genetics.

Bruce

[tigerlily]

I'm more shocked that there is no pics here. hmph.

[pythontricker]

Thats weird. Any pictures?

[Bruce Whitehead]

I know... I will add the pics... I got home from the expo, and had to set up 4 new snakes, and then clean (to justify that yes, I can go an spend the rent on snakes, but we'll have a nice floors when evicted).

Also, I find they are so shifty that I need a second pair of hands to photo them... and I showed my partner the creepy 3 legged mutant, and as soon as it kicked it was game over.

"GET THAT FREAKY THING AWAY!!!"

As far as the earless ASF it is long gone... but with luck there may be one with a horn, or 9 testicles, or 2 tails in the bucket that I can photo tomorrow night.

Bruce

[blackcrystal22]

I know... I will add the pics... I got home from the expo, and had to set up 4 new snakes, and then clean (to justify that yes, I can go an spend the rent on snakes, but we'll have a nice floors when evicted).

Also, I find they are so shifty that I need a second pair of hands to photo them... and I showed my partner the creepy 3 legged mutant, and as soon as it kicked it was game over.

"GET THAT FREAKY THING AWAY!!!"

As far as the earless ASF it is long gone... but with luck there may be one with a horn, or 9 testicles, or 2 tails in the bucket that I can photo tomorrow night.

Bruce

Nawww.. you sold the earless? Or fed it?
Earless sounds really cute for some reason!
I like having disabled pets.. not that I ever wanted them to be disabled in the first place, but it makes me feel special to take care of them.

Ahaha, silly genetics.

[masta_ballZ]

I was pulling ASFs to take to an expo today.

And as I was sexing juvies in my grow out tub, I noticed that one of them only has 3 legs... at first I thought it had been chewed off, but when I looked closer I could see the perfectly round belly, and the leg bones kicking from under the skin.

Creepy...

And when I got to the show I noticed that one of the rats I had taken had no ears... WTF?

Anyone else seen something similar. I have heard of the sort of *ratty* looking failure to thrive ASFs, but not of deformed ones.

I put babes in this tub from 4 different breeding groups, so I cannot (at this time locate where they came from. But all my ASFs are from an original 2.2 pairing I got, and I am uncertain as to their genetics.

Bruce

that is the result of in breeding, which is ok but if you over due it it will cause mutations, week nervous systems and, it gets harder for them to fight infection and disease and eventually will couse them to die younger and not produce large litters..
and its hard not to in breed since most of the asf in ontario are from the same basic lines, but the only way to get none related rats is to do what i did and that buy them from new york i purchased my first 21 females and 7 males from pets plus in lockport, then another 21 females and 7 males from london reptiles here in st Catharines ON and mixed them up 1 male to 3 females and i separate the offspring into 2 groups which i call NYG#1 (New York Group #1) and ONG#1 (Ontario group #1) so when i do put new breeders in the tanks i take from the females from one and a male from another and put them together and so far i have great results. But now im up to NYG#1-4 and ONG#1-4. so im getting there but that all im gonna go.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

What makes you think it is from imbreeding? heard of smaller sizes and smaller litters due to inbreeding, but nothing like this. when you breed anyting, sooner or later deformities will happen. I do not think these things are caused by imbreeding.

[masta_ballZ]

in inbreeding thats one of the biggest things is deformities, and problems within. rats are born with no tails, no ears, no eyes, missing appendages, no reproductive organs, and lots of other weird things. its the same as in humans or any other animals inbreeding causes problems. im not saying that these will arise right away, i may take many generations but eventually it will happen and it will result from inbreeding. if you you must ask your vet and he will clarify and vouch for what im saying. believe me i watch alot of discovery channel and animal planet...lol

[Bruce Whitehead]

Guess I am not buying that it is purely from inbreeding. But you never know. This has been my only litter that was off, so it could be stress that the female had during gestation, etc.

I have had alot of people tell me to feed him off, but I figure I will contact a few vet schools, vets, etc. and see if there is anything to learn from the little guy.

If it was just a missing leg I would have fed it off, but there is a full leg under the skin, so maybe a student vet can operate and learn... you never know.

Bruce

PS: I am going to get pics tonight, should be posted soon-ish.

[frankykeno]

If it's excessive inbreeding I would think you'd see more problems in future litters, loss of litters due to failure to thrive, weak offspring, etc.

If not then it's just like a birth defect. That simply just does happen randomly with any living creature that reproduces. Occasionally young are born that aren't like the others.