First African soft-furred litter!

[TekWarren]

I got a trio of these guys a few weeks back and for last week or so could tell one of the females was pregnant. Well she had her babies last night sometime so I got up to a nice suprise! Supposedly they are supposed to be able to have large litters but this one was pretty small at about 8 or 9. I'm not dissapointed though its her first litter and I am just happy to see them producing already. The hair on the babies is amazing at less than a day old:

Smaller Pic

Larger Pic

[Rapture]

I've been interested in these... can you post pics of the parents?

[TekWarren]

You can get to the main gallery for these guys from the links above but here is the direct link:

Edit: the mother of this litter is the tanish colored one with red eyes.

African Rat's

They are neat rodents, the hair...fur is really something different from common rats/mice. They have virtually no smell and are very clean animals. I wouldn't have purchased these just because the prices are/where a little ridiculous at $50-$75 per trio. I got these from a guy on another forum who came up to a show and did some trading with me. He said he is 80% of his personal animals switched and couldn't be happier. I am looking at doing the same but will continue to keep mice and maybe some rats to raise any reptiles I would plan on selling.

[Regal Boids]

Would you be willing to sell some of those rats? If you want I have a snake I would be willing to trade.

[frankykeno]

Wow I can't believe the hair growth on them so quickly! Very cool Heath! Me being a nut about rat breeding of course there's going to be a ton of questions here LOL.

Why use these over the more traditional domesticated rat? How are the temperments of the adults you currently have? Any difference in husbandry, hardiness or litter production? Are they known to be good parents as domesticated rats are usually i.e. is the male safe with his young? do the females generally accept their young readily? Any known difference in acceptance as a prey item by snakes? Can one feed some of these and some domestic rats or has this ever been tried to your knowledge? What is the difference in size at maturity and do they reach larger sizes more quickly? Are the stages of growth as nursing young comparable to domesticated rats or are they larger/smaller or quicker to pass through those stages to weanling size?

I know I can find some of this with research (which I will be doing tonight) but I always prefer some first person information/actual experience as well.

[Emilio]

Wow I can't believe the hair growth on them so quickly! Very cool Heath! Me being a nut about rat breeding of course there's going to be a ton of questions here LOL.

Why use these over the more traditional domesticated rat? How are the temperments of the adults you currently have? Any difference in husbandry, hardiness or litter production? Are they known to be good parents as domesticated rats are usually i.e. is the male safe with his young? do the females generally accept their young readily? Any known difference in acceptance as a prey item by snakes? Can one feed some of these and some domestic rats or has this ever been tried to your knowledge? What is the difference in size at maturity and do they reach larger sizes more quickly? Are the stages of growth as nursing young comparable to domesticated rats or are they larger/smaller or quicker to pass through those stages to weanling size?

I know I can find some of this with research (which I will be doing tonight) but I always prefer some first person information/actual experience as well.

Great question's Joanna you hit everything on the head. I two was surprised with the hair they look cool.