Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone breeding or using ASF's as feeders? How's it going with them? Like's dislike's? Thoughts?

I just bought a few and they are okay...they are mean and bite the crap out of me. and as soon as I walk up to the tub they climb the mesh tops and make it difficult to just pick one or two out.

I got them thinking they smell less and drink less water but I think mice or rats would be better.

Thanks for the info! I had also heard that they smell less.

Have you noticed any difference in your snakes as in feeding? Likes or dislikes? Well besides the biting and such...

While cute as heck, they are a bag of pure devil, as described by David. I bred them for years and while having a use. Some wild snakes take to them. They proved over time to be a royal pain in the bum and far too expensive to keep.
While having numerous nipples(20) I believe, they did not raise up many pups. I found that surprising.

While most individuals did a lot of bluffing, a few were demons. Again, as a prey item, it did not work out and for many reasons.
If you want to raise and breed SF's, go for it, its a real fun lesson of what not to do. hahahahahahahahaha

A friend would feed his Crots SF's and while the snakes loved them the SF's kicked the crap out of the snakes. They fought bit chewed and chewed somemore until they were swallowed and digested. They were epic battles.

I haven't fed adults to snakes I imagine they would scar my snakes up.

They don't have very big litters all the time. 16 at most and usually 6. I do like them more than rats but I am going to get mice next and keep those outside.

Several friends of mine started raising them for another reptile species that is a notoriously finicky eater. They set up 20 breeding pairs. Mostly because of how prolific they are, how little they smell and their ball pythons seemed to pop them down like M&Ms at a weight watchers convention.

They quickly became overrun with them and had to freeze many. They tried to keep and breed the offspring of the few females that weren't aggressive to see if they could line breed a more docile ASF. Fun experiment that didn't work after a few years of trying. They are just nasty lil cusses but great for problem feeders.

My experience was similar, with one exception, they do stink, just different.
I produce mice is small numbers, about 6000 a week. SF's simply did not sell in any number worth producing them. The space they took up, was too much for their value. For instance, the same sized cage of mice, made five times more money. Couple that with keeping them is a pain. I ended up the same way, freezing them off.

I got them because I wanted something bigger than a mouse and smaller than a rat.

But they grow slowly and don't have pups often.

Do mice breed more than ASFs? I am not breeding for money I just want to feed my pets.

Yes, they produce far more in the same space and for the same cost of food and bedding. If your concerned with smell, use cellulose for bedding. Its paper hydro mulch in most states(not here) or paper insulation at both Home depot and Lowes. Its very inexpensive if you can buy 50 pd bags of hydro mulch. And still a good buy at HD and lowes. It also makes cleaning cages crazy easy. But its dusty, which is why it works so well.

Okay I will look into that as bedding sounds like the paper pellets they sell in pet stores for ferrets and rabbits.

Thank you.