Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone. I am trying to get some feedback on a.s.f. rats. I would like to hear the pros and cons on these rodents from anyone who has dealt with them or from what you know about them. I am told that they are great at multiplying. I am told that they don't get to large for adult balls to eat. I am told that they can and will chew through almost anything. That is all I know. I have seen posts in the past on this subject, but I can't find them and for that, I apoligize. I thank each and every one of you in advance for any info you can pass along.

I breed em for my 3 balls
I love em, barely stink at all.
YES they will chew thru anything, after trying 4 others types, I put them in large aquariums with thick wire mesh replacing the screen top.
They get smart.
One bugger is loose in my apartment, (Once I had 12 free the same time!!!!*they chew thru anything)
I use a variety of methods to catch them, this one has evaded them all. Next chance I get its dead! *been out a week tomorrow
The herp store I visit, had over 50 escape!
So put extra precaution in place when deciding their cage.

This is what the herp store did.
They took the same wire mesh I use on my aquariums,
made a 'door' out of it to cover the front of their rat rack.
and used another piece on each side, and the top, so even if they get 'out' of the tub, they will still be detained.
The mesh is cheap, like a dollar a sq foot if that.

good luck,

You might get more appropriate responses if you post in the Feeder Forum.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

Thank you. Embarrasing as it is, I never noticed the feeder forum.

Hey Man, dont sweat the post asking about AFS's. People ask rodent questions all the time and if you are talking about raising and feeding them to your Ball Pythons, well everyone here is a big help EXCEPT Mykee. Mykee's lot in life is to embarrass and belittle people. Unfortunately you said you were embarrassed that you didnt notice that there was a feeder forum so that gave Mykee the chance to sit back and gloat about what a big HOSER he is for making others look foolish, when in fact most all of us here know by now that he has nothing positive about anyone.. You know what, These little dickens will chew through anything as you said. One thing I have found that will keep them are those hard acrylic lab style cages that have the feeder screen tops that drop kind of drop down inside and tight on the tops so they cant chew on any edges. Drop me a line if you dont know where to get them. I just found a guy that sells the large sizes of them for like $15 a piece and they wont get out of those babies. Now I have about 35 ASF's I am raising to start some colonies of them so I can use those and regular rats to feed my rather small snake collection with and I like the fact as the other guy said, they dont really stink like a Mouse thats for sure and they have pretty large litters but but they do grow much slower than a rat or a mouse and they of course only get to be about the size of maybe like a jumbo mouse when they are full grown. Hope that helps and if you have an interest in any of the lab style cages for these little boogers drop me an email and I can send you the guys number. Have a great one, Jay
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JEM from sunny AZ.

2.25 Normals
5.9 Pastels
3.6 Normal Spiders
1.1 Spiders 100% het Ghost(thanks Mark Petros)
0.2 Spiders 66% het Ghost
1.3 Orange/Butterscotch Ghosts(BallPython777 Mark Petros)
0.6 100% het Orange Ghost
0.3 66% het Orange Ghost
0.1 Pastel Ghost
1.0 Citrus Ghost
0.1 Super Pastel 100% het Ghost
2.0 Albinos
1.0 Caramel Albino
0.4 100% het for Albino
0.3 66% het for Albino
0.1 50% het for Albino
0.1 Yellow Bellies
1.2 100% het for Clowns
1.2 Cinnamons
1.2 100% het for Pied
0.3 66% het for Pied
1.3 Mojaves
1.1 Beautiful Black Pastels(thanks Gulf Coast Reptiles)
1.1 BumbleBees(thanks for the AWESOME Bees Marc Bailey)
1.0 Super Pastel
0.1 Chocolates(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.1 Lessers
2.1 Fire's(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.2 High White Calico's(Thanks Brent from BRB)
1.1 SpotNoses(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.1 Enchi's
1.0 Pinstripe
0.1 Lemon Blast
1.0 Vanilla Ghost(Thanks again GCR for all the great snakes)
0.0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty

17 Tarantulas
Last but most Important 2.2 Children

I had no chewing problems at all with the black plastic concrete mixing tubs that Home Depot sells. My tubs fit tight up against a 1/4 mesh top and they just couldn't get a hold of an edge anywhere. I've seen another setup where even Norway rats where chewing around the hanger hole on these tubs but I think it was because the lid wasn't tight fitting enough and they could get a tooth in-between the lid and the tub to get a start.

and i have kept them for asbout 4 months, i should have started out with a bigger colony than 2.5

We keep a small group for picky feeders. We have 4 groups...1.3 each...they are prolific as hell. We use Lab Rat Cages and have never had escapes.
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Michael Enriquez

I don't think you should keep two males in a group of ASF's. Maybe that's why you are getting eaten babies.

Yes yes and yes -- they are perfect size for balls -- but they grow very slow. Yes they have real big litters and yes they chew alot - and jump alot and generally don't tolerate handling. Plan on getting some wheels for them to run in -- they love to run -- and it will cut back on the chewing and aggression. And yes balls can get fixated on them and you could have a hard time getting them switched to regular rodents -- for this reason it's also not great to feed them to anything you might be selling off -- lots of people can't get ASFs.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl

I used to have a small colony and the chewing was a constant i used the heavy plastic crocks as a food dish to help with that, glass cage with wire screen lids if you can get them glass water bottles in metal brackets, and a metal wheel. they can be very aggressive every time i got bit by them it broke skin. if you can get a good starter group they should breed like crazy. i had more than i could handle by the time i sold off my balls. they do grow slowly that was the one down side to them it took a while to get them big enough to feed my big girls. but the lack of smell was very nice and they had way more personality than any of my other rodents.
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1.2 sunglow motley corns
1.1 anery corn
1.1 okeetee corn
0.1 sunkised corn
0.1 triple het snow motley
0.0.10 sunglow motley babys
2 clutches of eggs cooking
0.1 hypo brooks
1.2 high red het albino western hogs
1.0 anery Honduran milk snake
0.1 VP hypo Honduran milk snake
1.1 anery Kenyan sand boa
0.1 Kenyan sand boa
3.6 rats and babys
ginger mouse colony
1.1 rex rabbits and babys
24 gal saltwater nano reef

I just stuck to regular rats. I built a 4 tier rack, 1.2 in one, 1.3 in another...and I currently have over 60 babies...
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

I started with a colony of 2.5 just weaned ASFs about 3-4 months ago and now they are more than 70 rats with more on the way. They do grow slowly, but I have used that to my advantage to feed my smaller balls an occasional live rat. I prefer to mix f/t with live for diet diversity and the ball pythons seem to have a higher feed efficiency when fed live.

I haven't had really any problems with chewing. I have mine in a 50 gal tank with a lock top. I gave them two large nest boxes I made out of peg board and that seems to have stopped the baby-eating problem. They also have a ceramic pot, two wheels and some pieces of cardboard to hide in. I just started a second colony in a 20 gal tall and began separating out the weaned ones into yet another tank to take the population pressure off of the breeders.

I feed mine a medium grade dog food with no more than 20% protein and at least 6% fiber. I also supplement their diet with corn, oats, bird seed (sans sunflower seeds to prevent allergic reactions) and puppy milk bones (for higher protein occasionally).

Yes they like to bite, but I've never had them break the skin. They also like to "spin" when you are holding them by the tail, which can lead to it popping off. I have had good luck taming some babies to be friendly though.
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3.4 ball pythons
1.1 kingsnakes
0.1 crazy cat
?!.?! ASFs
1.0 husband

.setup 10 gal tanks...1.3 or 1.4
.breed well...
.smell less
.chew alot
.will not dig for food so feed small amount everyday
.wasteful, again ,small amounts
.like grains,proteins (lab,dog) some veggies
.grow well if fed well.....
.and no they don't get that large...

...I am starting to think they are African Soft Furred Mice not rats as some think.....

....good luck....

...
.
.
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JY
Scales-N-Tails
reptiles ltd.

I have had mine for almost 2 years. I started with 1.3 and now have 8 rack draws committed to them. I keep them in heavy duty plastic bus bins. The racks have 1/4" inch mesh with the water bottles through the mesh. I have never had one chew out of the cage although they will destroy plastic crock dishes in a few days so i built lab block cages out of 1/2" mesh so I don't waste much food anymore. I also have used a seed mix they do very well on but they will pee in it and ruin it if you put to much in.

I keep them 1.5 per breeding group and they have never killed each others babies.They don't drink an awful lot either.Currently I probably have 300 or so. We use them to feed our picky eaters otherwise we try to use rats.

Pros are they reproduce quickly and have very little odor and are lower maintenance than rats or mice. Cons....they are nasty aggressive evil little animals that will bite you when ever they can, they jump high and they grow slow.
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Wayne and Ryan
Dark Continent Reptiles
www.darkcontinentreptiles.com

I read once that they aren't really rats or mice but something else.

......not sure what they are,.....

....I tell people they are the opposite of spiny mice....

....they smell familiar when skinned...I have to do some more research on if they smell rat or mouselike more....

....they work at times.......and ratsnakes and other colubrids love them too.....
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JY
Scales-N-Tails
reptiles ltd.

........18" hemos with rubber tips.i've had my colony for two years and they have calmed down greatly and most don't bite,however when moving over a 100 adults on a weekly basis i use the hemos and have never been bit.

never had a escape using the polycarb lab cages.in short i really like them,i have cut my regular rats population in half.have fun!