Questions about grow out tubs

[blbsnakes]

I'm mostly interested in asf because the live rats I've purchased have only lived about 30 minutes in tubs and they still make the place reek. Last one was a large weaned or small small rat and within 5 minutes I could smell it's urine in the whole room. Where as I've been to shows where they have like 30 weaned rats in a somewhat small tub and it didn't stink at all. Not to mention I live in FL and would want to breed them in my garage. I saw Mike Cavanaugh say that they live fine in his garage in Jacksonville, so I'd just need to set up some ventilation for them.



I think it was this forum that had an issue where someone got 1.3 and before they started breeding the male's face got puffy and he died unexpectedly. So I'd probably get the extra male to make sure I'd get some production. But isn't it only an issue to introduce new adults when there's litters? Assuming the male died before litters dropped of course. Having a growing male in the tubs at all times sounds like a great idea, maybe even one extra female just in case. I mean if you don't need her it's easy to feed it off or just retire one.

So do you feed off asf to any of your balls? I wish I had a shed or somewhere to breed rats though, I just can't take the smell inside the house and the garage is too hot and probably still not enough space for rats. The one other thing I liked about the asf is since I only have balls and don't know anyone with anything larger I could always feed off any retired breeders or anything. Where as I won't be able to feed off a large rat for at least a couple years.

I have both rats and soft furs in these racks which are simply covered by thin plastic that goes from ceiling to floor. Behind the racks is a small window exhaust fan. Before I did this the rats and soft furs stunk up my house. Since then I promise it is nearly impossible to smell the Rodents. Now I just lift the plastic get what I need or clean and feed and then put the plastic back down. It has literally brought the smell down to nothing.

It is very difficult to introduce adult soft furs at all. Whether there is a litter down or not. My best luck is introducing in groups on clean bedding when the soft furs are under 4 months old.

I am in the very southern tip of North Carolina, so its hot here in the summer and mild in the winter. Neither my rats or soft furs would survive the summer here if they had to live outside in these racks. They would roast. And even if they didn't die there is no way they would produce many young if at all. Maybe your ASFs are better acclimated, but I lost about a dozen breeders last summer when my a/c went out for 2 days in July when it was pushing 100.

I don't feed any balls soft furs. Even my hugest balls being in the 3000 gram range can barely eat a medium rat let alone a huge breeder. I usually sell them to a buddy who has boas and retics.

I totally think that soft furs are way better than rats. They smell less, breed more, take up less space and stay the size I need for longer, but at this point I have decided it is easier to raise a few rats so as to not alienate such a large portion of potential customers.