• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

I got my ASF rats!!

T

techgirl

New member
Joined
Jun 29, 2005
Messages
1,155
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
54
Location
New Jersey
I picked up a 1.2 group yesterday from my friend. They are cute!! So far they seem to be eating well. I am feeding them the Kaytee rat blocks. I have also some yogurt drops to give occasionally. I was planning on giving small amount of vegetables,mainly collard greens,butternut squash,summer squash and carrots once weekly. Is that ok? Is cheerios ok to give occasionally as well? I also have a mineral/salt block and some wood sticks for them to chew on. They are living in my daughter's room for now. Here are some pics to show the set up. Hopefully in a month, I'll be having some babies.
 

Attachments

  • african soft furred rats 002.jpg
    african soft furred rats 002.jpg
    97.9 KB · Views: 234
  • african soft furred rats 004.jpg
    african soft furred rats 004.jpg
    125.4 KB · Views: 244
  • african soft furred rats 001.jpg
    african soft furred rats 001.jpg
    125.9 KB · Views: 240
  • african soft furred rats 003.jpg
    african soft furred rats 003.jpg
    91 KB · Views: 212
Jess, good luck with the african soft furs. You may be over doing it with all the different foods. I feed mazuri rodent and a little bird seed and they do great. in no time you will have many babies as they are VERY prolific. important to have some wood blocks or something for them to gnaw on. :)

Just a reminder.........these will bite you hard!
 
I have two Rats there not soft furred though, just small Rats. I feed them all kinds of healthy stuff though. If they're going to be feeders you want to be healthy and fat right? I cut back sometimes though to just the dry food because my Ratties are a lot of work. They keep me moving.
 
I would stick to the dry foods for the ASF rats(lab block, seeds and the cheerios are fine). Veggies cause loose stools and make them smell horrible, they contain too much water and they need very little. Here is a link to a good site for ASF rats .
 
Thank you for that site Bill! Always glad to get as much info that I can. So far, I have been able to pet them without qualms but have yet to fully handle them. We'll see how that turns out.
 
Ok, what is up with the rats?? I have been able to handle them and even hand feed them fine until the past few days. Now as soon as I open the tank, I am getting attacked. All three are lunging and biting like they have rabies!! One of the buggers even bit my cat!! He was sitting on top of the tank and it got him through the screen. Could it be mating time or what?? They are getting very close to becoming snake food if I loose anymore blood. I have even tried using forceps and gloves to clean around the cage and to take out the food bowls and they are latching onto those as well. Any ideas?
 
So does anyone know of a source for some of these in the Oklahoma area? I also travel to Kansas City, and Dallas for shows, so if anyone knows somewhere to pick some up please let me know. It looks like in that link Bill posted several other people in Oklahoma were looking for them as well.
 
Told ya so. HAHAHA :D I have resorted to useing a net to gather these up when its cage cleaning time, even if you try and pick them up by their tail they will turn around and bite you. just mean little buggers! :yesnod:
techgirl said:
Ok, what is up with the rats?? I have been able to handle them and even hand feed them fine until the past few days. Now as soon as I open the tank, I am getting attacked. All three are lunging and biting like they have rabies!! One of the buggers even bit my cat!! He was sitting on top of the tank and it got him through the screen. Could it be mating time or what?? They are getting very close to becoming snake food if I loose anymore blood. I have even tried using forceps and gloves to clean around the cage and to take out the food bowls and they are latching onto those as well. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
 
You weren't kidding Ed!!! They quickly became snake food. I can't have any living things in this house that nasty with a little kid around. All I need is her sticking her fingers somewhere when I'm not looking and getting a nasty bite. Looks like we'll be sticking to the gerbils and the mouse for now.
 
I picked up a couple of colonies a month ago. So far these havent been aggressive in any way. Well as Jessica says, they bite I have about 50 judge and executioners just waiting for payback.
 
Back
Top