Quote Originally Posted by Simple Man View Post
No need to try to flip this around into something it isn't I'm here to learn too.
Yeah sorry, I didn't mean for that to come out quite like it did.

You're the first handful of people that I've heard say great things about ASF. I have a lot of friends in the hobby and some even have... *gasp* ASF colonies (or had them). No one has ever told me they are easy to keep. I haven't bred ASF because I don't have anything I feed eating them. They aren't readily available in my area (or many areas) either. Reptiles aren't as prolific where I live. The community is much smaller than many parts of the US. I've only seen a few colonies in person and they weren't local. Rats are easy to keep, breed, and are almost universally available in all areas. That's why they are my preference.

How did you get into ASF rats?

Regards,

B
ASFs weren't plentiful here when I was looking for them either. It took me over a month to find a guy nearby that was getting rid of some. I didn't buy them because I had ASF eaters... I went out and bought them specifically because I wanted to breed them and feed them to our snakes.

Yes, they can sometimes be nippy when not handled much, but I have been maintaining anywhere between 500-1000 of them daily and have probably been bitten less than 10 times since I started. None of those drew blood. You just have to learn how to handle them.

I think the best thing about them is that they're the perfect size. I don't understand why people complain about having to feed 4+ to their BPs. Those ASFs are either too small, or they're way overfeeding. We don't usually feed more than 1 or 2 a week, and almost every single one of the hatchlings we bought last year has put on over 1000 grams.