Just a quick note while I gather my thoughts. My latest litter of ASF's have confused me for a little while. They are approximately 5-6 weeks of age, and today I have finally confirmed my suspicions.

It appears at least 3 of my asf's have a lameness about them, they walk irregularly. I could never completely decide what was going on, because they do walk, just awkwardly that tricks the eye into thinking its a shy crawl/walk, but today I watched one of my males on a wheel and he definitely does not walk straight.

The best way I can describe it right now is they extend their legs at the hip joint almost straight out sideways instead of underneath them to walk. It is only observable in their back legs, their front ones are perfectly fine.

So far it appears to mostly be the females, since I have only observed it in their tank. There happens to be one male in the same tank, and he also appears to have this deformity.

I dont know if they all happen to have broken limbs, or if it is genetic in nature, but it has certainly stunted their growth. Each one of the lame asf's is smaller then their litter mates.


I'll attempt to take a video if I can, I am cleaning their tank tonight so hopefully I will remember to record how they walk.


Any thoughts?