It's a good thing I've been working on putting together my breeding projects because my Supplier told me today that he's getting out of the ASF game.

He gave me 20 of his breeder females, so I went out and got bins for all of them. A number of the females are ready to drop already.

I have 5 x 1.3 groups now, the rest he gave me will be fed off.

Does anyone have any suggestions that could help me out. I'm not looking to over produce but I am using about a dozen ASF a week for feeding. How many groups should I have to be safe? I don't mind producing double that number but I don't want to be dealing with hundreds a week haha. I have a few questions if anyone is able to help me with answers, It would be greatly appreciated.

1. In a 1.3 group do I need to remove females and put them in maternity bins or will this just cause issues with re-introducing them to the colony? My supplier suggested that I scoop the babies out when they open their eyes and start running around, because they will continue to feed off of the females and it will kill off any newborn in the bin. I've noticed this to be at about 3-4 weeks from my past litter but I hadn't been removing them from the colony until 6 or 7 weeks, so I'm unsure about what is best.

2. If I am removing at 4 weeks, is it okay to add them to a grow out bin with other weanlings from different breeding bins? I've learned that pairings are best made at this stage (thanks to you guys LOL) so I am assuming that this is a decent time to create grow out bins??

3. How many weanlings can I keep in a bin for grow out? My bins are 65 QT, about the size of the large cement mixer tubs from home depot, or w.e. the generic racks are made of. I usually have about 20 ASF in them for feeding but I don't know what is best, or acceptable.

4. I use shredded paper as a substrate for all of my rats and I find it works fine.. My supplier suggested that the paper substrates can lead to lower success rates in breeding tubs, and suggested that I move to kiln dried pine but I don't have a cheap source for it in my area.. I've had a litter on paper before and I never had a problem but hopefully someone has some insight to this issue. (I'm always very generous with the bedding, and clean them out about once every 5 days.

5. I know for Norway it's recommended to have a breeder female for every Ball Python, I'm assuming since I have 4 ASF eating Bp's and they eat about 4 ASF each a week, I should have 4 females for every BP?

I'm sure I have more questions and will post them as they become relevant, but for now those are my main concerns.

Thanks in advance,
Chris.