I have a pretty decent breeding colony going and have been able to study them for almost a year now (October). I don't handle mine as if they where pets and I have NEVER been bitten by a single one of them. Really the only time I physically disturb them is to clean or remove one as a prey item. That said these rodents do seem use their mouths as a form or exploration rather than aggression...from what I have seen. More often than not mine would use their the mouths to pull something closer to them if it was out of their reach to further inspect it. I have not heard to much of anyone really concentrating on bonding with an asf rat but I don't think its out of the question. I am very happy with my decision to not only study and breed them but also use them as a prey item for my snakes.