ASF Tell ALLS... Finally decided to reveal to my BP.net brothers and sisters....

[Mike Cavanaugh]

I have decided that it is not fair of me to not share my trade secrets any more... This site has given too much for me not to give back the best I can. What I am about to share will cut your production costs to pennies (about 7 cents for an adult ASF.) While some of it may sound questionable, it has been tried tested, and documented. Trust me.

Feed: I started out feeding Mazuri 6F. It is without a doubt a good food for ASF's but grossly overpriced. The feed I use, and will continue to use for the rest of my days is 100% Country Acres Hog Feed 16% protein. It costs $10 per 50lb bag. I have been using it exclusively for more then 6 months. I have already had full generations on it. That means from pregnant mom, to baby, to baby growing up, to baby becoming pregnant, to growing her babies. It has had no ill effects on production numbers at all. In fact, in several instances production was slightly increased. I have many pages of spreadsheets proving this (no, I'm not going to share that :colbert ):

When switching to this feed, the only thing you will really notice is larger, less frequent poops. This worried me at first, but the numbers prove it is NOT an issue.

Feed Dispenser for breeders: LOL, as one of the founding pioneers of food hoppers, many of you will be shocked to know what my new dispenser looks like. I experimented with many different ideas because the Hog feed comes in little tiny kibble. Well, my new dispenser is absolutely no dispenser at all! Finally I realized (after spending hundreds of dollars over time) that they are rats. They are dirty, scavenging creatures. Now I simply dump the measured amount of hog feed in a pile on top of the substrate. Will they pee and poop on it? YEP. For the first few days they will. After the first few days though to my surprise they learned to ALWAYS pee in a particular corner, and never in the food area. Yes the feed does get mixed into the substrate and poop, and even under it, but that simply doesn't matter. They know where it is and will get it as they eat. Sound unhealthy or cruel? Stop thinking like a human and start thinking like a rat.

Feed Dispenser for grow ups: a 2 foot piece of 2" pvc pipe with a 45 degree angle on end with hardware cloth got glued to the feeding end. suspend it from the middle of the top screen so the top sticks out allowing you to add food without having to open the tub.

Feed Amounts for the breeders: Wow, I was wasting SO much food in the beginning. I had no idea how little food they actually ate compared to what they just chew up and spit out. I keep my breeders in 1.2 groups. an actively breeding group gets no more then 125 grams of hog feed every 3 days. You will be AMAZED at how little 125 grams actually is.

Feed Amounts for the grow ups: I always keep the PVC pipe full. The grow ups don't waste food like the adults. The majority the ends up on the ground is eaten by the younger grow ups.

Substrate: Sun Coast Horse Bedding. Large Pine Flakes. It is dried and the flakes are big and fairly heavy. I will use this substrate forever because it is CHEAP and works in my opinion better then anything else. Like most compressed bags it claims to be like 9 square feet compressed. Unlike all the others though, It really is a HUGE amount once uncompressed. I would say it is about twice as much pine as any other kind I have previously purchased. The price? 7 bucks a bag. A benefit of this substrate: It has some large enough chunks for the rats to chew, so I don't have to put any chew blocks or toys at all.

Cleaning: I can clean all of my grow up tubs and 20 - 10 gallon breeder tanks in 45 minutes. I no longer wash them out at all. I simply scoot the rats to the non potty side of the tank or tub and shop vac the nasty stuff out. I do this once a week. Usually I only have to suck out about 1/3 of the substrate. then i scoot the remaining old over to the potty side and put new on the clean side. This way of cleaning requires MUCH less effort, and does not waste substrate.

Think about it...

The food: This will cut the price of your purchase food by about 60% compared to Mazuri 6F. If you measure the feed you will cut the amount of food you are giving by AT LEAST 50% (I know this is hard to believe, but if tried, you will see) Add those two together, and for every $10 dollars you spend in food now per month, you will spend $2 - $3 dollars after the change.

The substrate..

This substrate has twice as much substrate compared to other comparably priced brands. That cuts your purchase price in half. You will use AT LEAST 50% less substrate by eliminating wast. Add those two together and for every $10 dollars you spend in substrate now, you will spend $2 - $3 dollars after the change.

Put the food and substrate together and where you were paying $20 dollars, you are now paying $5 dollars. The side effects? There aren't any. Oh yeah, and you never have to spend another penny on food hoppers for your breeders.

Everyone has their own way of doing things. I just wanted to share my way. In these tough times it is the least I can do to help my fellow herpers out.

Sincerely,