Feeding ASFs...

[decensored]

hey guys,

So I recently bought 5 BP's off a breeder and I was told they were feeding on live ASF's. The wonderful thing about this is that they cost an arm and a leg.. As I wonderfully found out tonight.

Anywho.. I had a couple of questions for you guys?

1. I was warned that the ASF's are pretty nasty and was told that they WILL bite me.. I don't want to get bit (obvious), so what is my best bet for handling/ feeding. Are they gonna bite my BP?

2. Am I able to wean them over to hooded rats from ASF's? The guy at my local reptile store told me that once they are feeding regularly on ASFs that they wont take anything else.. I don't know if this is true - but my wallet would be very thankful if anyone had any tips on how to go about switching them over.

Thanks forum.

[Shadera]

Some of mine bite, some of them don't. I wear a light pair of garden gloves when I'm moving rats around just in case. I don't have time to socialize these guys, and big production is more important to me than a rat that'll never break skin.

I feed soft furs as part of a rotation, and have never had any issues with picky feeders. If anything, customers have told me that I've sent them the best eater in their collection no matter what they're feeding. As long as you're not feeding them exclusively from hatching on, you shouldn't have a problem.

If they're used to feeding live, you can go ahead and try FT or whatever you plan to feed. But be prepared to use a few live rats to get them switched over if you have to. That's what I'd do, anyways.

[decensored]

Thanks!

I actually just finished feeding them and everything went pretty well. I was told they haven't been eating by choice for the last 2 months. All of them ate except for one and her ASF got fed to my big boy so nothing got wasted. Thank god. I actually went out and bought a pair of heavy duty gardening gloves so that I could hold the rat without being hurt. I grabbed the little guy by his tail and the strong bugger was able to swing himself up and bite me! He didn't break the gloves though and he had a good grip so that was awesome! Only my pastel girl was hunt-dumb and bit the rats side, so I had to intervene.

After The ASF bit me the first time I started using the feeding tongs to hold them by their tails. Worked well and when the swung up the could only bite the tongs. One of the ASFs was smart and evil. As soon as I put them in the tub it would go over and bite the snake. This turned off one of my girls but I just introduced her to a new one (different colors) and she took it.

One of my girls pretended to be interested and then when the rat would come up to her head she would shy away and ball up. This went on for about 30 minutes before I gave up. Any suggestion for this situation. I tried dangling it in front of her - I tried letting it loose for 5 minutes. This ASF was pretty tame so I wasn't worried about her getting bit but I didn't want to leave her alone with it just in case.

Thanks guys!

[Brion99]

Feeding with tongs I grab the mouse by the middle of the back-between shoulders and hold the squeelin lil bugger in front of the snake....you get lotsa head shots (just let go right at the strike).

I've read about "priming" when changing food...you would feed an ASF thats smaller than usual then as soon as he gets it down he'll still be in "kill mode" and then you put the desired food (rat/mouse, live/f/t) and he should pounce. Keep doin this for 3-4 feeds then bring in just a big version of what you want to feed and it should work, according to the guys at Pro Exotics anyway.....might be a little tougher when switching from ASF's (which have been referred to as crack for BP's and this is for mice to rats and live to f/t) but considering the massive amount of $$ saved it sounds worth a try.

[decensored]

I'll give that a try! Yeah it was DOLLARS! I got 5 ASF adults and paid $30 for them. There's no way I can afford to do that every 5 days especially with a growing snake population. I plan to have 2 racks filled by this time next year.. I'll be paying over 600 bucks a month on rats.. ew.

[Simplex]

Breed them!! Im feeding 9 mice a week at 3 dollars a mouse to one snake. I know out rageous. Breeding asfs..super easy. No smell. Little mess. And cheap cheap

[SlitherinSisters]

I would try switching them over. None of mine got addicted to ASFs when I was breeding them, but they all grew up on rats and mice, they weren't fed ASFs from the start. ASFs definitely like to bite, and they can be more aggressive towards snakes than rats.

[wolfy-hound]

When I had ASF, I fed some snakes on the ASF and they switched back and forth without any trouble. I had no luck with the ASF breeding and fed all of them off eventually, going back to regular rats.

Good luck. I'd reccomend you breed your own ASF if you have any issues getting them to switch. You might even be able to supply local shops if you breed enough.