ASF's outside?

[marwari31]

Does anyone here keep their ASF's in a garage or shed that is not heated? I have been breeding these buggers for a while and I keep them in my room and the fact is, they smell. A lot. Even cleaning them twice a week. They are a rodent and that is what rodents do. So I want them out of there. I have a garage they can go in but it is not heated at all. I can hook them up with heat lamps to keep temperatures above freezing (I live in PA which gets cold) but do you think that is enough to keep them alive? I know they are an African species and don't do well in the cold but they will be out of the wind and heat lamps should keep it sufficiently warm I would think. We have baby ducks out there now and they are doing fine.

[SnakeKB]

The guy i get my soft furs and rats from keeps his in the garage with little heating around 55-60* i think. What you could do is get some sheets of OSB and stirofoam and make a cheap closed in area around the rat area with a space heater. The heat lamps might give the rats too much lighting.

[bsash]

I have been keeping my rats outside in my uninsulated shed, they are doing just fine. I know they are different from ASFs but I would think heating them would be the same. I bought one of the ultra-therm under the tank heaters that fit the entire bottom of my rat bin and duct taped it on the bottom. That way they can borrow in the wood chips a little to get the heat and it is much more energy efficient than running a bulb all the time. I folded a thick fleece blanket and laid it over the bin to keep some of the heat in and keep the ambient air temperature higher. So far we have only had two nights where it got down to 37 degrees, but not even any of my pinkies died, so I assume it is working good for now, we will see as it gets colder, I'm in New Jersey so it will get a little bit colder. I plan on putting a small heater on my water bottles too to keep the water from freezing when the temperatures get a little colder. So far all is well, I will try and keep you updated as it goes through the winter though as there is always a possibility of things changing. For now, I just thought I'd let you know how I'm doing it.

[SnakeKB]

UTH's are a pretty good idea. I forgot about using them for the rats.

[marwari31]

UTH's are a great idea, i didn't think of that either. bsash please keep me updated on how your guys do this winter. I'll post pics when I get everything set up next week.

[suzuki4life]

uth are a terrible idea. You will make their urine evaporate and generate humidity within the tank causing respiratory and MANY health issues. Add to that you are restricting air flow. Heat lamps could work but would be tricky to not cook the animal. 50w lamp can make a 150+ degree hot spot at 6"....just think how hot a screen lid can get, how do you plan to keep the ambient in check in the tank if you get a warm day?

Have you tried the typical odor reducing ideas for keeping them in a house?

pine bedding, use baking soda under the pine. Very light dusting, dump out excess, then add pine.

pellet bedding works pretty good, i like the ABM material over the equine fresh.

Less animals per cage will reduce the amount you clean each cage but you will have more cages to clean. However, you will be shocked at by not compounding the build up in ONE cage the odor reduces drastically.

ASf are one of the least odor producing rodents out there. You might need to switch to frozen for the winters if you can't handle the smell.

[SnakeKB]

The soft furs really don't smell to me. I used to keep 5 cages in my room and you couldnt tell they were there except for the noise. I use kiln dried pine which might help keep the smell down. I also clean them once a week. Heat lamps would work but you would need them mounted away from the tubs itself so the air temp raises without over heating the tub itself.

[marwari31]

I have tried all of those things and they do help but not a lot. Maybe I am just more sensitive than most? I have tstats to hook the lamps up to so they don't cook anything. I keep them in a rack system and I do not have that many. Only 1.2 breeding and their various babies. I keep them mostly for my male who does not eat anything except live ASF's so frozen is really not an option at this time. He went off feed for 7 months before I tried ASF's after multiple assist feeds and he eats these like a champ.
Good point about the UTH's. I am going to try a few different methods and see which works best. If worst comes to worst they will come back inside before it gets too cold out anyway and I deal with the smell.

[suzuki4life]

a 1.2 dumped twice a week, i would say you are super sensitive but i am betting you are sensitive to the pine smell. Try carefresh instead. Much more expensive but might solve this problem.