how early to establish colonies?

[grammie]

I just got my babies yesterday, and I have 10 little ones. To be honest, I'm not sure how old they are, he said they were babies. Can you hazard a guess??



And if they are old enough to sex, should I separate into my little families now or just take out the extra males and set them up to grow? I have read all the stickies, but still want someone to lead me by the hand.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

And if they are old enough to sex, should I separate into my little families now or just take out the extra males and set them up to grow? I have read all the stickies, but still want someone to lead me by the hand.

You can sex them at any age. The ones you have there look like they were weaned a week ago or so. This is the perfect time to set up the permanent breeding groups.... feed off the extra males. You should easily be able to sex them at that age.

Mike

[Jeff Krupa]

As soon as they are weaned from their mothers, they can be sexed and seperated into their own breeding groups.

[truthsdeceit]

You might as well set them up in breeding groups.

That way they grow up together and theres no stress later when some are removed/introduced.

The only reason you would not want to setup breeding groups is if your worried about them getting pregnant too young. But if you're worried about that then you have to seperate the males and females for another 8weeks at least cause if you're gonna wait you might as well be sure they're 12weeks old.

But personally, I wouldn't worry about as long as they're healthy and you feed your first time moms a high fat/calorie food mix.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

The only reason you would not want to setup breeding groups is if your worried about them getting pregnant too young. But if you're worried about that then you have to seperate the males and females for another 8weeks at least cause if you're gonna wait you might as well be sure they're 12weeks old.

FYI..This doesn't happen with ASF's. The females will not have babies until they are supposed to. First litters from my young moms are often some of the biggest litters.

No need to change their diet for a first litter. Just make sure they are on quality lab block all the time.

[truthsdeceit]

FYI..This doesn't happen with ASF's. The females will not have babies until they are supposed to. First litters from my young moms are often some of the biggest litters.

No need to change their diet for a first litter. Just make sure they are on quality lab block all the time.

Oh, *embarassed* ignore me!

I only have regular mice and rats. It's good to know that ASF's are smarter when it comes to breeding

[grammie]

thanks so much, I am so excited. I love these little babies, even though they are 'food'. Looking forward to the Atlanta show where I plan to increase my snake population.