I do not believe ASF's are going to replace regular rats because I don't think the peto and petsmarts of the world are ever going to carry them.

However, in my house, they have already become the only thing I feed to my snakes. Kingsnake, cornsnake, balls... everyone eats ASF's. In my opinion nothing beats them for many reasons.

The food imprinting fears, while possible, are usually NOT the norm. If you have a picky or no eater that takes an ASF, sure, they may only take ASF's forever (although there are many that have been able to switch to reg rats in time) However, I believe based on my own experience with 15 ball pythons, If you have a normal good eater of normal rats, they will easily switch back and forth between ASF's and regular Rats.

Careful... Once you go ASF, you don't go back!