Which is less gross to breed?

[satomi325]

ASFs habitat crosses into desert scrublands and the southern portion of the Saharan desert.
And deserts doesn't always specifically mean sand dunes....
Yes, they also have other habitats as well, but urinating not as often is a biological adaptation to the desert. (think Hamsters as another example).

(referenced from Anita M. Oberbauer, B.S. Zoology, Ph.D. Animal Physiology.)

[DooLittle]

Asf's are like popcorn... Or ping pong balls... They jump like crazy.

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[Don]

At first, I was frustrated with ASFs because they grow so slow. However, if you are breeding and have lots of baby ball pythons around, that slow growth rate ensures you have plenty of food for those babies. Really, the only down side I experienced with ASFs is the slow growth rate. I can't remember the last time I was bitten and because they are smaller, they require less room. Here is my setup with 40 breeding treos and four grow out tubs:

[Andrew21]

Rats are awesome. I've never bred them but my friend does. His are no where near as healthy as my mice, but that's just cause he doesn't clean them out as much. I love them though. Mice are to small and skiddish and yes they smell bad. Everybody else has pretty much said why they are easy to breed, but I think the animals personality traits will matter quite a bit in the long run.

[decensored]

I have been actively breeding both Norways and ASF. ASF are much cleaner. Although I have to admit the Norways are more fun to work with. You can interact with them and their babies are adorable. I breed both, as different snakes are on different diets.

1. Litter size: In my experience ASF have much bigger litters. The smallest litter I have ever had has been 7 and the largest has been 21! Where as Norways give me usually between 6 - 12, with my largest being 13.

2. Cleaning: I end up cleaning out my Norways every 5-7 days, depending on whether or not there are pups in the bin. Where ASF's get cleaned out usually every 2 weeks, right now I have a colony with 35 babies, and they only need to be cleaned out on a weekly basis. Huge savings on time, and bedding.

3. Food: Norways are big, and eat MUCH more in my experience. I have to fill my Norway Hoppers, where there are 3 females, every 2-3 days. Where most ASF colonies without young make the hoppers last about 7 days.

4. Growth: Norways reach "large sizing" within 3-4 month which is the same as ASF. However a Large Norway rat is substantially bigger than a large ASF.

5. Breeding: Norways usually spit out a healthy litter every 2-3 months if given appropriate rest in between. Where as most of my ASF females will give me a litter every 1.5 - 2 months. ASF's are colony animals and don't need to be given time to recover from pregnancy.

6. Prey: ASF will usually get a better feeding response from your ball python - however, for a big female like my 2300gram spider, you end up feeding 4-5 adult ASF a week, where Norways will be able to grow to the size that is appropriate for a single prey item.

I personally like breeding ASF. It's much cheaper than buying them, where as Norway is readily available for cheap prices.

[jess6905]

Rats are the best in the long run to me. Everyone has pretty much given you all the reasons why. ASFs jump like crazy, and chews everything in site!

[snakesRkewl]

The only thing that matters to me is what the buyers say when I post a snake for sale.
Putting asf eater on a snake means you might as well keep it, they are a very tough sell if they are eating asf's.

No asf's shall touch my snakes tubs again...

[carlson]

My rat project is just starting with my first litter and more males then females an all that but I find them to be fun the males I have are mostly nice one of them comes to be pet if my hands in his cage and my only female will walk on to my hands to come see me but right now she has her first litter so I've been outta their cage since. Smell isn't bad I've had the males in there and the one girl for two months I change the bedding weekly.

[SquamishSerpents]

I voted for rats, because you also asked for which is least high-maintenance.

I found that I simply didn't have much luck with ASFs. I tried everything. Food, temps, new colonies with fresh bloodlines, but it just wasn't working out for me.

I found they take WAYYYYYYYYY too long to hit sexual maturity. It's usually at least 3-4 months before they will breed and have babies (females, anyways). Then it seemed they would breed well for awhile, and then all of a sudden just come to a grinding halt. POOF. One day, nobody was pregnant, nobody was having babies. I fed them all off and breed regular rats now and their production is INSANE compared to the ASFs.

Perhaps if I had more space to stock pile grow ups, I could have rotated my breeder ASFs every few months and had better production, but I didn't so I quit breeding them.

[Don]

The only thing that matters to me is what the buyers say when I post a snake for sale.
Putting asf eater on a snake means you might as well keep it, they are a very tough sell if they are eating asf's.

No asf's shall touch my snakes tubs again...

I've had no problems selling snakes that were started on ASFs. I get them going on ASF hoppers, then switch them over to f/t rats. All of my snakes switch back and forth with no problems. I don't think getting stuck on ASFs is as common as people think. I see it no different than starting snakes on hopper mice, then switching them over.