Breeding Choice-Mice,Rats, ASF's

[ThyTempest]

Hey everyone,

Well we currently have 3 litters of pinkies, around 25 in total I think. I was not too worried about counting them as I would rather be a little surprised later than to have them all eaten because I was too curious. We have 1, maybe 2 other prego females that will probably birth in 1 1/2-2 weeks. All of these mice were from the pet store, so not really sure when they conceived. Anyway, on to the real questions.

I am now debating even more about what I want to breed for feeders. Yes, I only have 1 snake, and yes, I know it is probably not going to be the easiest option, but I am set on at least trying it. Now I just want to pick what to breed.

I have pretty much eliminated the ever popular rat, since for right now, Pandora is only eating live, I am worried they will get far too big very quickly. I may be able to sell of extras, etc, which I will be looking into soon.

We already had one of the smallest mice killed by the others, so I am also worried about the cannibalism in a mice colony. However, since we already have mice litters going, enough feeders for a while, and we wouldnt have to move anything around in the tub to prevent ASF escape/demolition, I am considering this more than I was before. The smell was horrible before, but we have since switched to primarily equine fresh with aspen as needed, and that has significantly helped the smell. With that said, the smell doesnt bother us right now, but it is still cold, and the mice are in a separate room. We expect that to change when we move into our apartment in the fall, so the odorless, or near to, quality of ASF's would be really nice.

The main thing I am worried about with ASF's are the amount of time they need before they are big enough to feed, potential chew outs (housing is a Sterilite/Rubbermaid ish tub following the DIY sticky), and maybe simply being overrun. I am not that worried about too much breeding, since I am willing to euthanize and freeze to control population, and hopefully I can switch Pandora to f/t to eat these eventually. If not, then maybe I can find someone who wants them locally. I have seen the rat/mouse equiv chart with the nice pics, but if anyone could add the approx age an ASF needs to be to be equiv of an adult mouse or similar, that woudl help me a ton.

I just want some opinions on which choice you all think would be best, accepting the fact that I am going to breed, please dont try to convince otherwise, just let me know which way you think I should do it. Thanks a lot, and heres what I can think of in total.


Mice
Pros-more tame, less chew-out risk, grow quickly, size, price
Cons-smell, cannibalism, in-between litter rest period, have to remove male

ASF's
Pros-Smell, less food/water, no rest period, size(adult), protective dad
Cons-extreme cannibalism to newcomers, price, slow growth?, mean

Until I know more about the size/growth rate, I am not sure if that is good or bad for ASF's

Thanks for all the input, and sorry for the extremely long post.

[atp151415]

idk man, i just started breeding rats and its working out great so far. (I only have 2 snakes )

ASFs are not the only thing bps eat in the wild so dont feel that you have to feed them unless you have picky eaters

I kinda wish i bred mice kinda dont. The only + i see in it is just that when they get to there full size you can still feed them to a bp but i feed rats. People say that rats are better but people who feed mice never have any issues with it. I prefer to feed rats because when they get bigger i would like them to be able to eat 1 or 2 small rats instead of 3 or 4 mice. I would also rather have them all feeding on the same thing.

[Beardedragon]

Actually, its rats who need the between litter rests. My mice are doing quite fine breeding back to back, the only time they get rests is when the male is buisy in a different tub. I do not like the fact that ASFS are huge chewers and have a slow growth rate, but they do get to a good size for balls. The only problem is though by the time you get them to that size you could already feed off two or three mice born at the same time. I sell my extra mice, they are a common feeder around here, unlike ASFs. they both have their pros and cons <><><><><><> ah sticky keys just turned on i"l finish this post laterit wont let me type right

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I breed rats and mice I have some ASF waiting for those to breed.

Mice the only thing is that you need to be perseverant, it's hard to get started, but once you do it is really a smooth ride just like with rats. (I don't have any cannibalism issue and for the smell you have to use the right bedding, caging and not over crowd your enclosure)

[ThyTempest]

I know about the slow growth rate, but so far I have not found anyone who can say an x week old mouse is the same size as a y week old asf, etc. This would be very helpful, especially if someone stickied it with the other sizes.

As far as the mice go, if cannibalism tends to get better, that is def good. Also, the bedding seems to help a lot, but I dont really know how many is ok to keep per tub before the smell/health will really get worse. The bottom dimensions of the tubs I am using are about 18" x 12".

[Freakie_frog]

Ok here you go

3-4 week old ASF = hopper mouse
6 week old ASF = small mouse
8-10 week old ASF = large mouse
10+ week old ASF = jumbo mouse/weanling rat

I had ASF's born 4-5-08 and they are just now big enough to feed to my adult males and small females

[ThyTempest]

Thanks a lot, it helps a lot. It is not as slow as I was expecting. The way people talk I was thinking more along the lines of a large mouse at 6 weeks would need = 12+ week ASF. I am glad to hear it is only another 2-3ish weeks.

[ThyTempest]

Well, I am still thinking that making the switch to ASF's would be best. I will finish off with the prego mice I have now, which should hold me over until I have some ASF feeders, but I can always buy some extras.

Now I have a question about actually switching Pandora to ASF's once the time comes, as long as I still do it. I am also wanting to switch her to at least p/k, preferably f/t. I have had some close calls feeding live, which could have been bad had I not been there to keep the prey from biting. Also, if she will eat f/t then I shouldnt have a problem with overcrowding as I can euthanize and freeze without having to do it just for population control. What would be the best way to go about this? Should I attempt to switch her to frozen mice while I am waiting on the ASF's, or get her to eat live ASF's before trying to switch to frozen? From what i hear, most bp's have no problem switching to ASF's

Since ASF's are so prolific, I should pretty much be able to expect a litter every 3ish weeks once they start to breed?

Thanks for the help.

[Freakie_frog]

The best part about ASF's is they never get to big for a Ball python. So I don't have to woory about feeding them off in time.