Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so I'm somewhat unhappy with finding good live feeders in my area that are cheap...the cheapest source is over $2 and the rats still have that baby fuzzy look

how long does it take to get soft furs reproducing enough to start feeding your collection adult rats? Also will they breed in the winter? I live in NY will I need to put heat pads on the tank to keep them warm I've read keeping them warm is a must to get them to breed well. How much do they eat- if I buy bags lab type rodent food...

They should breed quickly if you have a cooperative pair. The ones I bought were litter mates so they did fine. They take FOREVER to get up to adult size though. I have some babies that are 2 months old and are only about halfway to adult weight.

I'm not sure about breeding in winter because I just got mine. They don't eat too much, I think because they don't get very big (~85g is my biggest). I feed a group of 2.2 a small handful of food each day. I doubt a 2.2 group would go through more than 5lbs of lab block a month.

They can be jerks sometimes if you move them from tank to tank, nothing like normal rats from the pet store. I would suggest normal rats if they are an option.

My info kinda sucks but nobody else replied yet, so hope this helps.

a colony of normal rats would smell to much I live in an apartment

change your bedding every three days. you can keep as many rats in your place as long as you change every three days you will never know they were there.

mice on the other hand just stink period! there's nothing you can do to cut the smell......oh yeah i know feed them off

Pitoon

I have the same issue living in an apartment. I switched to ASFs about 3 months ago and I love them. I have 3 groups of 1.4 and a group of 1.2 and walking into my apartment you would never know. They do grow slow but are much easier to maintain. They pee in one corner that you can spot clean as needed so we only have to change the full cage every 2 or 3 weeks. It's kind of a trade off. More stink for faster growth or less stink but slower growth. Also ASFs eat and drink less than normal rats.
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Everyone has eaten and everyone has been eaten.

I am buying my self a colony of breeders this week.
But I when I got 2 'fuzzy' ASF, they were the size of mouse fuzzies, so I fed my 3 monther both at the same time.
Is feeding more then 1 prey at a time bad?

My ball has been my garbage disposal for my extra mice that are thawed out that my kings seem to be refusing to eat, and a half a dozen mice at a time aren't hurting him a bit, in fact, I might maintain that for him till he puts weight back on and I'm not so worried about him gettin sick... Then I'll evaluate his needs and see what seems to be best for him...
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~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings (Spot and Fry)
1.0 Brooksi
1.0 Ball Python
0.1 Red Belly Piranha (Fluffy)
1.0 Australian Shepherd (Spooky)
1.0 Springer Spaniel/Beagle mix (Snoopy)
0.1 German Shep mix (Shadow)
0.1 Cat (Echo)

I live in an apartment, and I have a rack with six large tubs of rats (about 18 breeder adults). I use Equine Fresh for the bedding (topped with aspen for those who are nursing babies, to provide more warmth to the babies). I change the bedding once a week and there's no rat smell in my apartment. Usually by day 7, I'm getting a whiff of rat, but only when I walk right up by the rack (have to be pretty close to it to smell it). But that's cleaning day, so that's taken care of.

I meant to add, I do keep ASF's as well - I love them, but it does take FOREVER for them to become large enough to feed my adults. They've been great for me at the hopper size for starting hatchlings, and the hatchlings have all easily transitioned to regular rat pups. The activity of the ASF hoppers really get them keyed into feeding for their first meals, and regular feeding of a five day schedule seems to "program" them to be excellent feeders, no matter what you put in front of them.

Mine are just starting to produce (60 babies from two colonies) but I can agree with others that they are prolific, smell a lot better, and don't seem to eat (or drink) that much. I think if I can keep enough grow out pans going they will do fine for me after a long startup period. But how many would you need for every breeder pen? I use those big concrete mixing tubs so there is a lot of room but if it's going to take three months to grow them up I'm just not sure when to remove babies from parents to make room for more and how to shuffle them around during that time.

I'm thinking maybe four breeder tubs and 3 grow out tubs but maybe even with the big tubs I'll need to up that to 6 for grow out. Take all the weanlings (how old? 6 weeks?) from a week or two (depending on if 6 or 3 grow out tubs) and then grow them up for another 6 weeks? Doesn't look like I'll have a steady flow of feeders until about 4 months into this but as long as you have the space to grow them up the feed doesn’t seem to much so shouldn’t be a big problem after you fill the longer pipeline than Norway rats.