ASF- What's the craze?

[m00kfu]

The colonies or the grow outs?

Both, I can generally grab any ASF out of any tub here and not be bitten.

Dont forget the best part. They dont stink like regular mice and rats. Even in large colonies.

Lies! They definitely do stink, it's just a different odor.

[Darkice]

Both, I can generally grab any ASF out of any tub here and not be bitten.



Lies! They definitely do stink, it's just a different odor.

I have eight breeding quads in my basement. And i have been cleaning the substrate every 2 weeks. There is NO smell in my reptile room where i keep them. One breeding group of mice or rats will stink up your house in 2 weeks.
They do have a smell but its barely noticeable.

[m00kfu]

I have eight breeding quads in my basement. And i have been cleaning the substrate every 2 weeks. There is NO smell in my reptile room where i keep them. One breeding group of mice or rats will stink up your house in 2 weeks.
They do have a smell but its barely noticeable.

We've got 3 breeding groups (trios and quads) and two grow-up bins. At the end of the week they tend to smell worse than the rats to me. Must be a trade-off going on, I can handle them without being bitten but they smell worse?

[Kevin_Hornby]

What size container you leave em in for 4 to not stink for 2 weeks? I keep my breeders in 10 gals and they can go about week before they get stinky enough to clean. As far as niceness goes, mine are 50/50 i've got some rats that you can go pick the baby up from underneath the mother with no problems, others that you can touch the tank and they charge.

[Darkice]

I built a rack out of 105qt tubs that were on sale at wallmart. I clean them weekly but every now and then ill skip a couple tubs that just dont seem dirty. I like the larger tubs and i put lots of pvc pipes for them to run around and play in. Keeps them happy.

[Jimi_Reptile]

I have a nice sized colony of three breeder bins holding one male and two females, and I also have two separate grow-outs for males and females. All in all there is about 100-125 AFS's in the rack and I only smell an odor out of the grow-out tubs after the bathroom corner is drenched. It's not usually bad, but after a week, it sometimes gets a little bit over the top if I don't spot the bathroom corners.

I have seen a tremendous difference in growth and alertnes in my snakes since I started feeding ASF's. I have a BP that had not eaten anything in 10 months, we had no choice but to tube feed her. We found a ASF breeder and bought a dozen or so and began our colonies. The first time we put a ASF in with that snake, she took it dead on no hesitation. tub was open for about five seconds before she took it. Since then, she's never missed a feeding.

The only bad thing about them is the breeders are breeding too fast! Before the oldest clutch is old enough to be weaned, there's a batch of chubs and pinks in the bin! I've been seeing that if I don't remove the oldest group before the third batch is born, the new pinks end up at the bottom of the pile and die of starvation and/or being crushed.

As for the social aspect of them, the grow-outs accept new batches of weaned babies with no problems. I have never had a death in a grow-out bin yet. I can pet and hold the grow-outs and not get bit. If I go anywhere near the breeders, they they charge, bite, and don't let go. I have been using a leather glove I usually use for my scorpions to get the adults out for cleaning day.

Rock on! \m/

[Animals As Leaders]

ASF's are over-rated I think. Take too long to get to the right size and for me thats enough for me not to like the idea. I'm thinking about getting A colony just for problem feeders, and getting babies going but thats it I wouldn't make it into an operation for all my snakes.

[Jimi_Reptile]

Well the speed of the breeding depends on what temperature the room is. I keep my ASF's in my snake room ( no odor, yay! ) and it is kept at a constant 80 degrees. If they are at a lower temp, they don't breed well if at all.

If you feed your grow-ups different foods, they grow quicker. I feed mine KENT 23% protein rodent diet and they go from weaned to adults in about a week and a half to two weeks.

[itskrystle]

I found a care sheet online that said 1/3 of their diet should be fresh fruit and veggies, do you guys do that? Just wondering if it's absolutely necessary to give fresh produce.

[Beardedragon]

The speed of breeding is great, but the speed of growth is terrible.

I spend forever growing them up, and then you have trouble with them killing each other.

Great for problem feeders though, but I never had the patience of raising them for feeders.

And, although they do not have a horrible smell, take a wiff of their pee corner.