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New pickup: ASF

I fostered 7 juvenile males until adulthood last year. They are nippy and jumpy but mine didnt particularly go out of their way to bite me, they did have a habit of nibbling my arm when I put my hand in to do something however. They chew through EVERYTHING. Before I picked mines up to take them home I was told they had chewed their way out of the cage they had been in before. They also chewed the wheel pin until the wheel fell off...so I had to replace it a few times. Mine generally slept all day (its cute that they cuddle up together!) and were very very active at night...I slept in the same room as them and they did sometimes wake me up. Hope you enjoy keeping yours...I quite miss mine now they have a permanent home...
 
akewa said:
When I got my first breeding pair they took about 2 months to have a litter and they were the size of yours weanlings. Once they started thou it was every 3 weeks with litters ranging 16 pups. This fed my 3 snakes just fine.

I tend to feed alot of stuff growing at my place. So varity is a big thing also I buy the yogurt bites so they have a calcium supply. They are extremly active so must have a wheel and lots of room to run. If male can't chase female enough when she is ready litters will be small for she will fight him off. Give them wood to chew also that will help with water bottles or anything else they can chew. There teeth grow too so they need to chew. I also have a salt and mineral disks in their cage.
Good luck with your new additions.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the post, and the link in your sig also very helpful.
While I bought these with the intention to breed them for snake food, I have since spoken with a pet store owner near to me who might want to get some for his store, so I may not be feeding off the babies after all.
 
lyndy299 said:
I fostered 7 juvenile males until adulthood last year. They are nippy and jumpy but mine didnt particularly go out of their way to bite me, they did have a habit of nibbling my arm when I put my hand in to do something however. They chew through EVERYTHING. Before I picked mines up to take them home I was told they had chewed their way out of the cage they had been in before. They also chewed the wheel pin until the wheel fell off...so I had to replace it a few times. Mine generally slept all day (its cute that they cuddle up together!) and were very very active at night...I slept in the same room as them and they did sometimes wake me up. Hope you enjoy keeping yours...I quite miss mine now they have a permanent home...
Click to expand...

I really don't try to handle them much other than adding food or cleaning the cage, although when I take them out I haven't been nipped or had any jump yet. Maybe I just got lucky with some kinda mellow ones. I have them in a glass 15 gallon it's halfway between a 10 and 20 long in size. They have a fake log hide, the hamster wheel, a (now glass) water bottle, and food dish. They seem to be OK in there, I just have so many critters right now that spending time socializing them seems impossible. Of my 6 tanks of rodents (I have 5 10 gallon with mice right now as well as the ASF) I have only one animal that is tame, an older male mouse that I just couldn't bring myself to feed off when it was time to rotate rodent stock. (instead he got three brand new young mates... lucky mouse!) He always comes to my hand when I put it in the cage and sees if I have food. But these ASF hide as soon as I open the door to that room and if they don't dive in their log they will sit there with a deer in the headlights look. I can just tell they don't enjoy interacting with humans!
Question, do the babies squeak like pinky mice? I can always hear when I have a new mouse litter.
 
my blog and breeding

Jen keep an eye on my blog for I will be using it to log my breeding program. At this time I am working on aggression as I was lucky to aquire a timid male. I have a long breeding background with many species of animals and have a keen eye for tempermet so that will be a main breeding project for me on ASF's. Since I can decicate time and space to these guys with the cages that I am useing I should have a few good lines going fast.

I am finding using the critter trail 3 for small groups fits me and them well. easier to control what is happening and watch temperments also. Once I have temperments down to where I like them, then I will work with colors. I am hoping others will do the same so we can exchange notes on our progress.

Jen just remember to tell store owner that these are not pets and to keep sexes seprate or else he will have more than he knows what to do with. My store stop selling them for they did not sell as they had them priced high since they were new. Tell him to make a note that they are great for Ball pythons and hard feeding snakes
 
Thanks. I will tell him, I think most of what he sells is for feeders anyway.
I saw the solid colored male chasing females yesterday and looked like he hooked up with one of them so I might have babies soon. He did chase her all over the cage, They are getting a little less timid, since I have them in my snake room and I am usually in there every night feeding or cleaning, they must be getting used to me. There was an amusing squabble over a carrot piece, the two were mating, all kinds of things going on.
 
My first litter is here!
I wanted to count them but the minute I flipped the log I got attacked! And decided to just leave them alone. Doesn't look like a huge litter but I am happy. (These things have bitten me a couple of times since I last updated this, and they DO bite hard)
 
I cleaned the tank and got some pics of the little fuzzballs. Wow I am glad these things don't need to have their bedding changed as often as the mice do. It's always scary. I think I have the mean American ASF and not the gentle UK ones.
 

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Congrats on the litter Jen :cheers:

Cute little guys aren't they? Wait till you see them in a few days when they get their Einstein hair ;)

Hubby got a little nip yesterday while cleaning, but one of the females was actually in the process of delivering and got defensive, understandably. I didn't think she was due for another day or two :eek:
 
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