ASF playing with food?

[rexrem]

How do you guys feed them? Do you just give them a certain amount per day or you constantly refill their food?

I see a lot of food inside the tub as if they were their bedding. Are they just chewing it out of boredom or are they laying food for the pups? Or they want more bedding? I'm using pine pellets.

It doesn't seem like a 50 lb. bag of mazuri will last a month for 13 asfs. I constantly refill their food thinking that if they don't munch on the blocks they will munch on the pups.

[Amon Ra Reptiles]

We had the same problem. Feed a small amount daily and just provide wooden blocks for chewing. They will waste a pound or more a day if fed whatever they want.

[Jessica Loesch]

I put mine on top of the hardware cloth, kinda like using a hopper. They don't go through it too fast.

[llovelace]

I put a certain amount in every 2-3 days, they do waste food.

[Rhasputin]

ASFs don't like lab blocks, and waste them a LOT. They'll chew them into dust no matter how you have them, just some ways waste less than others.
If you have a serious problem like you sound like you're having, you might want to provide them with some nesting materials such as wood shavings, or shredded paper. They might be trying to nest with the pellets and not getting anywhere with it.

So you can try switching them to a feed mix, and also giving them nesting materials. One or both of those things should solve the problem a lot. They're always going to waste food, but at least you can minimize the damage.

I minimize it by feeding every other day, so that they will scrounge around for the seeds under the bedding, and eat as much as possible without waste.

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

I agree with giving them wood blocks to chew on. One of those cheap metal running wheels works wonders to keep them busy. Walmart sells these little edible half log looking things for rodents in two sizes for a few dollars each that last a long time for chewing.

Also try mixing an inexpensive dry dog kibble with the lab block. You'll save a lot of money and add variety for them. Mine love it and seem to eat a little less. Or at least they are wasting less food because they like it and they spend most of their time in the wheel or chewing on something else.

[TacoTheFaco]

When I provided hoppers, they slowly learned they could chew all their food to dust. When I switched them to hog feed, I got rid of the hoppers and started giving them a set amount every other day. I use a scoop, and depending on a colony's size, they get 1/2" a scoop to 1 1/2" scoops. They waste so much less this way, I thought they weren't eating enough!

And for boredom, as other have said, a chew block, wheel or other chew things. If you have/plan on having more than 5 colonies of ASF, cleaning wheels is going to turn into a pain really fast, and weaning adult colonies off them turns ASF into mean(er) little monsters. I have tried using wood blocks for them, but they didn't chew on them, just soiled them. Others have had a lot of success with them though. I gave them dried apple branches for a while, and those worked amazingly well. They climbed on them, chewed them, made burrows next to them. I just put a few in my weanling tanks because they're starting to chew out the bottom.

[Edward F]

I use purina lab blocks in a homemade food hopper. I mix in some kibbles & bits with lab blocks and a milk bone every once in a while. The subadults seem to waste more food than breeding colonies. They need stuff in there cage to keep from wasting food (paper towel rolls,little pieces of wood,little rocks)Some people say to use wheels but 50-100 asfs would make alot noise.The thing that is funny to me is none of mine ever chewed the corners of tanks that I can tell.

[jasbus]

Ah, the joys of ASF's... Another reason that I can't stand the little monsters....
LIke stated before, just give them enough to get them through. Unlike rats or mice, ASF's will eat more than they need, and waste food by chewing too. Even though I only fill ASF hoppers every other day, when I clean the cages, there is always a 50/50 mix of used bedding and ground up food left over. They are just wasteful little ungrateful annoying rodents.
All of my bins have pieces of wood for chewing, but most of mine just avoid it, and pulverise the food instead. Little punks.
Can you tell I don't care for them?

[Rhasputin]

For hew toys, I use cut up bamboo pieces. I can go cut as much as I want, and spit it and it's free!

You can also give them tree branches, fruit trees and mimosas I know are safe to use. Apple branches seem to be a favorite.

Just break them up into usable sizes, then bake them in the oven on high heat for 30 minutes to an hour to kill any parasites. Let 'em cool off, and throw them to the rats!