Thanks...They are difficult but not impossible to find. Your best bet is to search on craigslist. That's how I found mine. type in ASF under the pets search section and you should pull something up. I got mine for $4.00 each. I recently found a guy who sells them for $2.00 each. They are smaller as adults and grow a lot slower than normal rats. it take about 3-4 months from birth to get to about 70grams. full adult size is about 100grams. I breed them now and have to still buy large ones until my weened ones get bigger. another benefit too is that they have little to no smell. I clean their cage about once every 7-10 days and even then it doesn't smell. a Norwegian rat would stink up the neighborhood in 3 days. here is a website that tells about them and some breeders who have them http://www.sapphiretigress.com/Softfurs.htm
funny story...just this week I met a guy who has 3 picky eaters and they missed breeding season because they went off feed. I brought over some soft furs and 2 of the 3 ate right away, he about fell over because they hadn't eaten in months either.