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ASF's - what's the big deal?

Tiger Lilly

Tiger Lilly

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This is a serious question. I keep hearing about ASF's (African Soft-Furred Rats?), but don't know anything about them.
Are they supposed to be the next best thing to regular rats for feeding?
Is the soft fur better for digesting? If so, why not breed hairless rats?
Are they better for finicky feeders?
Help me out here--I'm about to get back into breeding my own feeders and am curious as to whether I should breed hairless, ASF, regular or all of the above.
Any answers will be greatly appreciated.
 
From personal experience, I have found that ASF have MUCH less smell than regular rats or mice. They have larger litters and even though they take longer to grow, it's very much worth the little extra effort.
They are not very docile but they are BP's natural food so they tend to like them. I have heard that once a BP gets 'impressioned' with ASF they will not eat other prey, though I have not had that problem. The hair is a bit softer but I have not seen a difference in digestion. I could be wrong but I thought snakes needed hair to AID in digestion.
Hope this helps
 
Thanks for your responses!
I've never heard anything of the hair helping to aid in digesting, but that doesn't mean anything other than I've never heard it. Here I was thinking that hairless rats would be better because of the lack of fur.
Ok, so if ASF's are bp "crack" as you put it, Moo, do they have a different impact on the bps growth, or would you say they are the ultimate answer for the picky eater?
Has anyone had their bps started on ASF's & been unable to change them over to regular rats?
Or, conversely, has anyone been feeding regular rats, switched to ASF's & successfully been able to go back & forth between the 2?
 
Tiger Lilly said:
Thanks for your responses!
I've never heard anything of the hair helping to aid in digesting, but that doesn't mean anything other than I've never heard it. Here I was thinking that hairless rats would be better because of the lack of fur.
Ok, so if ASF's are bp "crack" as you put it, Moo, do they have a different impact on the bps growth, or would you say they are the ultimate answer for the picky eater?
Has anyone had their bps started on ASF's & been unable to change them over to regular rats?
Or, conversely, has anyone been feeding regular rats, switched to ASF's & successfully been able to go back & forth between the 2?
Click to expand...

i never feed constantly the same prey ( ill feed the same stuff usually, but its never definite), so i cant say as to the growth being affected or not... but i feed my animals ASFs, Rats, Mice, Gerbils and Hamsters and they all take * for the most part, some of my critters have better responses to certain prey* ... whatever, whenever i offer. If i get 10 hamsters and then, the next week 10 rats ( or whatever amount) it never seems to make a difference.
 
Mooing Tricycle said:
i never feed constantly the same prey ( ill feed the same stuff usually, but its never definite), so i cant say as to the growth being affected or not... but i feed my animals ASFs, Rats, Mice, Gerbils and Hamsters and they all take * for the most part, some of my critters have better responses to certain prey* ... whatever, whenever i offer. If i get 10 hamsters and then, the next week 10 rats ( or whatever amount) it never seems to make a difference.
Click to expand...

I'll second that! Minus the hamsters. :D
 
Back when I was breeding my own feeders I bred some ASF's. In my opinion they aren't worth the hassle. They like to chew their way out so you'll need something metal to keep them in. They grow realllly slow and they like to bite. I've switched back and forth between rats, mice, asf's with no ill effects. I tried them on problem feeders with some success but mice seem to work as well. All in all, I think they're more hassle than they're worth.
 
Thanks again, for all your responses! I think I'll just stick with the mice & rats when I start breeding them again. I guess if I have any problem feeders, I can always use Seamus' KFC trick!
 
I think one of the biggest issues one can run into with feeding ASF is that if that is what they are used to eating, they may be difficult to switch over to rats....and since ASF are not readily available to the average public, it isn't necessarily a wise idea to feed them exclusively.

I've used them on babies that have been reluctant to eat for the first time, and a couple of really picky eaters, but try not to leave them eating them for any length of time. Once the start eating, I try to switch them to rats right away.

I never really had any issues with them being as bitey as some say...but then like with anything, it may depend on the "lines" you get them from. If I ran into bitey ones, they were food, not breeders.

I found it worthwhile to keep just a few on hand, myself.
 
Thanks Cat--I haven't had any problem feeders, thank goodness, but I know I have at least one gravid female that looks like she's about ready to pop. Since this is my 1st crack at breeding, I wanted to be prepared & check out the ASF's. Like I said, though, I think I'll just stick with the regular mice & rats. Never had any problem breeding them!
Thanks again to everyone that put their 2 cents in; I appreciate the input.
 
ASF'S

I have a large colony of ASF's everything you hear about them are not true in my colony,except they grow slow.the smell is way less than mice or rats,reg. rats grow too fast for me they are too big by the time all my balls get around to eating,if you have a small collection then go with asf rats,if you have alot & some real big girls to feed go with rats,I have both. I refuse to feed mice because thats what they like to imprint on!!!! got a mouser switched over to big asf's & man shes growing now but took 6 months to switch her!
 
Greg, thanks for chiming in! I have only had one snake that I had a hard time switching from mice to rats. Anytime she went off feed after that, I offered her mice again & she was good to go.
As far as the smell with regular mice & rats, mine have always been outside, under cover. The Florida weather is great for that aspect.
I don't know what you consider a "large" collection; I have 24 bp's, with 2 on lay-away & at least 1 gravid that's ready to pop.
Taking into account what you've said about babies imprinting on mice if that's what they are started on & all the stuff I have to already deal with on a regular basis, I'm leaning toward just breeding the rats at this point.
All I know is, I have to find a happy medium to be able to fit everything else that goes along with my already too busy days! Although I have yet to even see an ASF (yeah, I'm too lazy to even look up a photo), I know rats, so that's what I'll stick with.
 
MICE

Im not talking about babies ,500 plus grammers stuck on mice,ASF's are good for me becauise I breed in my basement,wife says no smell!,by small collection I have 12 bp's.Ive got a 1000g female pastel thats off feed & about to get a mouse!:censored:.hate to do it but I need some weight on her by next winter. I have about 300 asf's too many,need some more Rats for my bigger girls.
 
ASFs are definately (in my opinion) worth ahving around. It took me a while to realise what you were discussing here, over in the UK we call them "multi-mammate mice" (they ARE mice, not rats, it does my head in when americans call them "soft furred rats" :)

as has already been said they are one of the natural food sources for royals in the wild. this, along with their natural lack of scent makes them amazing for problem feeders and WC/CF sub adults/adults (gerbils also work as well, but obviously are crap breeders compared to multisd)

non-butey mutimammates are quite rare, more often that not they do like to use their teeth. The are very prolific breeders. We keep a small colony here for those that won't take F/T rats. WC animals also seem to readily accept them, although we don't currently have any in our collection.

Worthwhile having around, but I personally wouldn't choose them as the main feeder of choice, feed rats to those that will take them and african soft furred mice/multimammate mice to those that won't.
 
So, as far as ASF size, they don't get as big as our rats? What type of containers do you keep them in? It sounds like they are super-chewers compared to our regular rats.
It has already been mentioned that they produce large litters--but what is large? I had a rat that would regularly produce 13-15 in her litters before she started slacking off.
BTW, thanks for your input from across the globe!
 
No worries.

As I said before they are NOT rats, they are MICE, so it's more useful to compare their litter sizes to that of mice. It's muhc higher than lab/fancy mice. I can't give any kind of a number i'm afraid, I don't pay that much attention.

the reason for their common name (multimammate) is they are "many breasted". on a 'normal mouse they have maybe 6-8 nipples (CBA to check :) ) on the ASFs they run literally back "armpit" to front "armpit" basically thew whole length of the underside of the body. they are capable/designed to nurse far more young at once.

Like I said, think mouse, not rat, and you've got a muhc better comparison. they just get bigger and have more babies, and don't stink.
 
IVE HEARD THEY ARE THE LINK BETWEEN MICE & RATS

IF YOU WANT TO SEE MY ASF's CHECKOUT MY YOUTUBE LINK IN MY SIGNITURE I DON'T HAVE ANY CHEWING PROPLEMS EXCEPT FOR WASTING LAB BLOCK IF I FILL UP THE HOPPER.
 
I must admit we don't really notice any more chewing damage from ASFs to other rodents, in fact I think our rats are more destructive. I personally think thats a non issue.
 
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