Fed off my first ASF I produced

[JohnNJ]

They are the native prey item of Ball pythons. They are, from my experience, very easy to produce.They are great breeders. Another plus is they have little to no smell. Asf have large litters as well. Their downside is they take a bit of time to get up to feeding size.

Jeff:

What are the pro's and con's to ASF's vs. Gerbils?

JohnNJ

[Jeff Krupa]

Not really sure about gerbils... I have heard that once on Gerbils always on gerbils.. I could be wrong though. I have no experience with gerbils, so Its hard for me to comment.

[blackcrystal22]

what are the benefits of feeding ASF over pet store rats or even just a normal feeder rat bred at home... Are ASF's more nutritional or do the provoke better feeding responses? whats the deal

Jeff:

What are the pro's and con's to ASF's vs. Gerbils?

JohnNJ

In my opinion, they do provoke better feeding responses than normal mice and rats, and they get the perfect size for ball pythons in particular.
When breeding them, a HUGE pro is that they DO NOT smell in the least. I have one bin of mice and hate them for their smell.

They jump more, and are more difficult to tame/handle. Don't usually bite, but can. Gerbils have always been more bitey imo.

[JohnNJ]

I was thinking more about nutrition. Are the ASF's better as food or is the gerbil just as good, or maybe better? Would a regular mouse or rat be better as food?