HOW TO BREED ASF RATS | My methods for breeding African Soft Fur Rats for my Ball Pythons
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- Quick video answering questions on how I breed ASF rats for my ball pythons. Learn how to breed your own rats to feed your ball python collection.
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Great video! I’m so glad I found it, I’ve been going back and forth on wether I want to start breeding ASF’s or rats and you have sold me on the ASF’s.
Glad I could help! Good Luck!
Good information! I’m looking to start breeding feeders for my snakes. Much appreciated!
Thank you for your tips and shared knowledge!!!!
You’re amazing!!🙏🏼😃🤙🏼
Great video, very helpful to me. I just found your channel and I found several of your videos enjoyable to watch and educational. Thank you so much.
Guess I should have listened to the rest of your video before commenting, you answered my question.
I breed asfs as well and id have to agree with some others on here that those smaller tubs are too small imo. Those bigger tubs aren't bad though although I don't crowd my rodents too much.
I don’t even breed ASF’s but I’m planning to eventually.. Just because they’re feeders doesn’t mean they don’t deserve proper care and these tubs are incredibly small.
@@jlexoticbirds4134 I thought the same!
“Asf rules, what not to do” would be an awesome one bahahah
Awesome video. Very informative. Learned a few new things. Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Nice racks system !!! Hope to see ur feeding video !!! :)
How do you get the ASF's all out to clean the substrate with out them escaping ?
Very educational, thank you, 👍🏾👍🏾
So with the babies what do you do with the babies as far as the food and water?
Are they still able to reach what they need? We have the freedom breeder tubs.
Hey Courtney, great video. I think you are right ive been moving away from fancy rats to ASF. They seem to be a better choice for ball pythons. I think back in the day a couple Breeders said they got stuck on them and they were mean and everyone just followed suit. Thank you for your videos. 👊🐍👊
There is definitely a stigma around them, hopefully with more good information put out there about them more people will realize what a great feeder they are
Thank you so much for sharing this. Nothing like a Ball python getting it's natural food. If your ball pythons not eating.. this is the way to go. I'm going to start doing this. A lot of people around my area are having to rehome their snakes because they just can't find food for their snake, or can't get it to eat. I'm getting a Banana Ball Python, so I'm gonna need them anyways. I'd be happy to help out the Ball python community.
Can you explain which you'd recommend breeding mice or rats? How you categorize them, what is commonly charged and how you sip them please?
Ship* them 🤦♀️ id love more in depth videos of how to run the rattery if you could. The business end.
Nice setup, but I think they would be happy to have a bit more personal space i.e. lower density and certainly some stimulation items... I try to think from the animal's perspective.
Exactly as a reptile breeder obviously she has to research and practise good husbandry for them so why no for feeder animals also?
Do you have a video on sexing ASFs?
Thank You!! Have you posted any new ASF videos lately?
Great video can you please tell me what size is the growout tubs I just got into the hobby with Hognose snakes and would like to build a rack for mice and ASF
Great video! Thanks
Great video have you tried vanilla extract in the water to keep the ammonia smell down
We have the FB10 tubs
You did a really good job building those rat grow out racks. I've been considering switching to ASF's but the only concern I have is some ball pythons will only eat ASF's once they've had them for a while and I worry that when I sell a snake to a customer they might have issues with the snake not wanting to eat a different rodent, some states do not allow ASF's so it makes it hard for some people to get them. What has your experience been with this? Great video, keep up the great work.
I haven’t had any issues with mine getting stuck on ASF. When I sell babies I make sure they take a rat or 2 before they go and I haven’t had anyone say they had issues with them
I was looking for a male rat to throw in my mix and opened a bin at my feed ship to find 2 ASF moms and 12 babies! I didn't even know they had them. I was working on setting up breeder mice, but I grabbed one mom and some of the babies anyway. Mom ended up biting me though and I bled all over so that was fun and I now have rats, mice, and these cuties. Working on their enclosure as I watch this.
How bad was the bite?
I have pet rats. I don't know what I'm doing here 😬
QUESTION, I just had a litter of asf rats born today in one of my colonies, how long should I wait until I remove the babies from their momma & also should I avoid changing their bedding until the rats are weened?
Babies should be ready to wean around 3-4 weeks but you can leave them a little longer if you want. Make sure they are eating and drinking on their own before you wean them. As long as the mom isn’t actively having babies I stick with my normal weekly cleaning schedule, they don’t mind if you change the bedding
CD Exotics alright sounds good thank you very much for the quick reply!
hi Amazing vid!! how many weeks they take to get ready to breed + how long it takes when the female is pregnant to bring out the babies ty
Can the babies escape from half inch mesh? I’m trying to figure out what’s the best way to build a rack for these
Good video 🎥
Great video. I'm just getting started. I've had 2 females and 2 males together. Both female's have had litters 2 weeks to the day apart. Is it OK to keep all these together?
How about water
Cool rats awsome😆😅😂
Hi Courtney,
I breed fancy rats and fancy mice, white mice and recently started with ASFs again.
My fancies reproduce great.
The ASFs start out with a litter or two and then stop....
Why arent they breeding?
If I introduce new blood they breed 1 litter again and stop.
Are the ASFs put off by the scent of the other rodents?
I have 3 tubs of ASFs
Each tub is a large cement mixing pan.
Thanks for your help!
Need some of those colors!!!
hey, can i breed these guys in a 1/2 inch mesh? or m i going to have problems with babies getting out like mice do?
My ASF have stopped producing. Is it the cooler weather? Will they produce in the winter?
What’s the ammonia proof stuff can’t quite understand watched it 4 times trying figure it out thanks in advance🤣
Sweet PDF helps with the ammonia smell, most feed stores or tractor supply should carry it
Sweet PDZ
Do they slow down having babies in the winter? I had the two females goin and then the last few months it all came to a halt. That common?
Did your temperatures drop? Also check your protein, I switched to a 19% food from 21% and my production went way down
Your videos have helped me so much. I have been breeding ASFs for a little while. I have 12 colonies and all are producing lots of healthy babies. But I'm having a problem with 2 of my colonies. The babies in both are about 3 weeks old and almost hairless. Thier skin is red and almost looks irritated. It doesn't seem like mites. The adults seem fine. What should I do? Any suggestions?
I get bald babies a lot, they always grow their hair back
@@CDExotics thank you so much. I was thinking something was really wrong but since I messaged you, I have noticed that there hair is growing in and they look much better. Thanks for answering it makes me feel a lot better. Loura
What is the appropriate temperature and humidity for the rat room?
Regular rats ideal temps would be around 70-75. ASF do better on the warmer side, closer to 80. Humidity isn’t really an issue although I wouldn’t want crazy high humidity
Awesome info. I want som ASFs bad. I hate the way rats out grow my snake
It is definitely nice not having to worry about them getting too big!
Nice setup!. I am in pueblo, CO and I have been looking for ASF's for months now, with no luck.. Where did you get yours?. I don't know where you are but would you know where ASF's could be bought??.. Thanks..
I drove about an hour to get mine, you will just have to scour Craigslist and Facebook in your area until you find someone selling them unfortunately
Did you find any Mitch? Naturebox Emporium in Denver carries live and frozen ASFs and I have found some on Craigslist before as well.
Why food put on top of the nest...they able to get that?
Whats the benefit of asf over rats as bp feeders? I live in a state where asf are illegal. Im so confused as i continue to watch. Kw i dont know asf, but two things. If these were regular fancys, you uave way to many in each bin, and second...dog food?! You want them as healthy as possible for your snakes
Given your set up. About how many ASFs do you produce a month.
Right now I am weaning between 125-200 a week.
Would love a blueprint of that rack system ❤
when do you ween them and switch them to a different tub?
I wean them around 4 weeks old
Hi CD Exotics, how do you guys treat mites in your breeder and feeder rats and ASF?
I haven’t ever had a mite problem with my rats so I haven’t needed to look up a solution for it
Hi beutiful lady! So I got 3 little fameles 4 weeks old,1 week ago as a pet , they are so afraid of me and idk how to make them feel confident with me,I have tired many things as a putting my clothes in their little hosuses, give them food through my hand,tried to pet them...but they are still so afraid of me,sometimes thet approach a little bit sometimes they just ran and hide. I know you are breeding them as a 🐍 food but I think you can help me with it.
Honestly I don’t really work with mine much as they are for feeders. Best advice I can give though is just have patience and keep working with them and just figure out what motivates them. I would guess probably tasty treats
Yes I am new to ASF and someone was telling me that it is illegal to own ASF and I see some pet stores have them in Virginia but I was wondering what you know about it I tried reading up on it and it is so confusing if you could please help me I would appreciate it love your videos thank you
I'm new to breeding asf rats at the moment I've got two males and 7 females in one tub is this a good mix also what's the cycle for them bleeding and roughly how long does it take
I typically only do 1 male per colony, I’ve never had success with multiple males but I know some others do it that way. They are pregnant for 3 weeks and the babies can then be weaned around 4 weeks
After you wean them how do you house them? All together in the liter or separate them into breeding groups? Feed off?
I combine everything I weaned that day from all the tubs into new tubs.
Some of mine seem to have a disease where their eyes crust over. Others are perfectly healthy. What is the disease? I keep things clean
19:02 "my cats eat the rats too, they eat them frozen" Awesome! please elaborate we are trying to find healthier alternatives for our cats. Frozen/thawed then thru meat grinder? or cut up? or whole or how? skinned? cooked? tail and all?
Hi I'm also breeding in the uk your right there isn't a lot of information on them. Yours look lovely and big. Can I ask what and where do you put the ex breeder male. Do you feed him off straight away or does he go back in the grow out bin. I cant seem to get mine above the 50g here maybe it's the food ours is 18 protein 10 fat
Most of my grow outs get to about 80 grams, ex breeders are even bigger. I just feed the whole breeder colony off when I notice the females aren’t producing enough. Higher protein I definitely think is key with ASF. You could always supplement with some black oil sunflower seeds to up your protein, I would just watch to make sure they aren’t getting too much fat then
My ASF don't get bigger too. But I think it isn't a problem at all. One ASF weekly and my snakes aren't underweight. ASF are better much quality than rats. I don't have tried with breeding females, because my female BPs are to young to breed. Maybe there are more variants of ASF, I read that they can get up to 120 grams. Don't know.
I have 3 young BPs and an older male. The male eats rats if he is really hungry but he eats ASF all the time. The 3 others hate rats so much. Now I began breeding rats too, my freezer is full of them. The adult rats are now pet rats and got big cages with toys and everything. One for the males and one for the females, because I don't need more rats in my freezer but want to maybe breed them again later. Rats are really cute.
The mice is nice awsome rats 😆😅😂
How do you find them for smell compared to regular rats and mice?
Do you have the building plans available for your 23 quart rack?
I don’t, it’s the same process as the other rat rack build just adjust the dimensions
Wat type of dog food do u feed the mazuri is to expensive and little amounts
Do u know the name of the brand ?
I feed a mix of doggy bag and Kent 19% rodent block
@@CDExotics wat do u think of purina pig food
I don’t use pig food because it falls through the mesh
@@CDExotics is it because they can pee on the food then eat it ? And get diseases
Oh my god.. thinking to breed asf for my snake... But they r so cute
I have had three ASF (two female and one male) for months now. I think they are 5+ months old. One female looks big! But no babies. It has been weeks and weeks that I check the cage two times a day and still no babies. Is there anything I am missing here? Feeding them a ton. They have a little hide in their cage. Two females and not sure why I am not getting babies.
Sometimes they are slow to get going. Make sure they are getting enough protein. I feed mine a 21% protein food
@@CDExotics Can you put a link to the food you buy? Thank you. Also does that help with breeding and getting more babies? Lastly I have put apple core and avocado halves off our tree. Is that bad do you think for ASFs. They seem to love them.
I went to that website and couldn't find v 18 tubs ?
Do you have problems with them chewing through the tubs?
Not in the reptile basics tubs
What's a good cleaning product for cleaning ball python tubs. I'm using f10 but it's kind of high for the price.
I use f10 although I have heard of people using a diluted simple green solution. I haven’t tried that though so I’m not sure on the ratios
Do you profit off this?
I currently breed rats for my collection and started breeding ASF’s recently thinking of switching my whole collection over to them. How many ASF breeder females per snake do u think I would need to keep enough producing to feed full time?
Right now I have about 120 breeding females and that keeps up with my collection of 50 ish with plenty leftover to sell. I would say that 1 female per snake would probably be ok though and then just throw in another female or 2 to make sure you have some extras
CD Exotics ok thank you I appreciate it
Do you ever have problems with a colony eating the babies
1 or 2 here and there but not many. I feed pretty high protein so I don’t have too many problems
I heard and read they're bug chewers and it's not great to use bins because of that. Have you had any issues? I also heard using pine bedding isn't good nor is feeding dog/cat food. I have rats and looking to get ASF but I'd hate for them to chew through anything.
Some lines chew but mine do not. I use high quality tubs in my racks and have no problems. I’m not sure who would have said pine bedding was bad as everyone uses pine bedding. Dog food is nearly the same makeup as rodent blocks, just a lot cheaper. Some people do prefer to use rodent blocks but none of my rats or asf would eat the rodent blocks. When you pick a dog food you do have to make sure there are no dyes in the food as the dye is bad for the snakes.
I'll try to remember to come back and let you know how mine do with plastic tubs in a few weeks if you'd like to get info from multiple people. I just got started so I can't say yet.
I think the V18 tubs are way to small. Your grow out tubs are ok for feeders and not overpopulated. But this little V18 tubs, I'm sorry, but that is bad in my opinion. Ammonia builds up in these little tubs, the adults have nearly no place to rest and their pee and pop corner is making this little tub even smaller for them.
This is how to not raise rodents. You should use the same tub size for parents and litter as you are using for grow out. I use 23,6" x 15,7" tubs as a minimum. That is nearly 3 times as much area as the V18 tubs. In europe where I live I would get problems with use of V18 tubs. I think you should take a look at the size of common lab cages and avoid using tubs smaller than them.
Aside that, your breeding operation looks nice.
I initially did have them in the larger tubs that I keep my grow outs in. They did not breed nearly as well and I wasted a ton of bedding. I do prefer the larger 11 qt tubs that I built my new rack out of that gives them a little more space but they still do very well in the V18s.
I agree Andre tubs are way way too small.
what size mesh do you use?
I use 1/2" for my food hopper but Im going to build a rack but the 1/2"is too big for the hoppers.. but im afraid that 1/4" is too small. and I can not find 1/3"
I use 1/4” mesh for my ASF. It took them a little bit to figure out how to eat through it but they don’t have any problems now
Ok I have two females and one male. Got my first babies and all 12 made it. they are just opening there eyes. Today I see new babies from the second female.. but I think they are eating them. Are there any way to stop that? :-(
Make sure your protein levels are high enough, at least 20%
CD Exotics yea I think I need to order new food. Besides the pellets I also put hass avocado in there. They seem to eat that up like crazy. And Apple core in there some times too.
CD Exotics another question... if I saw them eat 2-3, and there is a couple more pinkies in there. Will they pretty much eat those as well? Any chance some of them will ween and make it? In your experience
I didn’t catch the dog food name you use, but would O’l Roy from Walmart be ok?
They have a high protein one, 27 %protein, 12 %crude fat, 4% crude fiber
I’m pretty sure ol Roy has red dye in it so I would not use it
What is the name of the dog food you use?
How many asf’s did you start with?
Hi, Love your videos. I am just getting started with breeding ASFs or trying to anyway. I found a breeder that was going out of business and bought the ASFs she had left. I have 5 groups, (4 females) (3 females) (4 females w/4 babies) (4 females, 1 male) (4 females, 1 male) she said all the females are pregnant. How do i introduce a male into the groups of females? Any help with what to do with getting started would be greatly appreciated.
You could try to introduce a male but the likelihood they will kill him is high. Colonies should always be kept together once made. You can hold back one of the male babies but you won’t get anymore babies from that colony until he matures
@@CDExotics thanks so much. I guess that's what I'll have to do. I'm not in a huge hurry. I'm only breeding to feed my bps(18) . Not sure why all the colonies didn't have a male with them🤷♀️. She lost one of the males when she was taking them out of the bin and her dog got it. Awful! Thanks for your help and your awesome videos. I'm going to do my best and get this all started 😊
Is there a smell difference between the rats and asf rats
Will the brothers reproduce with the sisters and mom? Because I only had 1 male and 1 female, and they had babies. After those two passed away. I now have about 3 clutches of babies. And I haven't gotten any more mice, I only kept the babies..
Yes they will
@@CDExotics ok! Thank you
Where are you located? I’d like to get a few live rats.
I’m in central Delaware
Is the dog food the only thing u feed them no supplements
Please talk about freezing
What food do you use?
Good video,I breed my own ASF rats has well.real good feeder & pets
Do you have any issues with the newborn babies being smothered to death?
Every once in awhile but not very often
Like
Hi great video, do you have any asf for sale?
I could sell a few starter colonies right now, they are local pickup only though
How can I contact you to speak with you
Thank you for responding
whats your humidity in your snake room?
It hovers between 50-60% right now
Hi what about when it comes to smell, do you change less.
I do still change weekly just because that’s easier for me but the breeding colonies could probably go 10-14 days depending on how crowded they are. They definitely smell a lot less than the regular rats
@@CDExotics Rats, mice, and ASF do not smell. Their poop and urine smells.
What tubs do you use
These are the reptile basics 11 qts, the smaller tubs are v18s and the semi clear grow out tubs are the reptile basics 23 qt
So they don't go canibal on dog food? Like rats do?
Someone told you rats couldn’t eat dog food? Up until the last month all I have all my feeders on has been dog food with no issues
How many ball pythons can a 1.3 colony feed?
Typically you want to do about 1 snake per female rat. That should give you enough babies and occasionally be able to sell some extras or freeze a few for slower times
Are ASF harder too breed then the fancy rats?
I wouldn’t say harder, they just have some different nutritional requirements
I got me 3 females and one male asf, and the females are definitely prego and one may pop soon. This is my first time with them, and had my first rack built. Do you think it's okay to just leave the male in with them after they have the babies or can there be aggression with the females defending their babies and maybe safer to remove him, or is it all good if the male in there is the father of the litter? Could there be problems reintroducing him if i do remove him? I did watch the whole video lol I'm just paranoid and want to take no chances since they are so hard to come by here and i got lucky finding these two hours from me. Thanks!
With ASF you can’t remove the male, you won’t be able to reintroduce him later on
Oh I'm so glad i asked haha i almost didn't. Thank you!
How do you serve the rats to your cats?
I just put them in the bathroom with a frozen or pre killed rat. I prefer frozen because it’s not as messy but they don’t seem to mind either way
What brand of dog food? Is it available at Tractor supply?
I get doggy bag from tractor supply, the food for the asf comes from southern states
@@CDExotics Is it okay to feed asf"s doggy bag? There are no southern states in my area.
You can but in my experience the protein is not high enough for the breeders. You would need to supplement with a higher protein source like BOSS or possibly mealworms
Doggy Bag is discontinued
How many asf rats you feed your bigger snakes at one time?
Usually just 1 but if they are building follicles and still look hungry I offer a second
Cattle cube from Tractor supply is great high level of protein
I have not tried cattle cubes although I’ve heard a lot of people say they had a lot of issues when they tried it
CD Exotics what type of food do you use
I use doggy bag for my regular rats and grow out asf and southern states 21/9 dog food for my breeder asf
CD Exotics do you think doggy bag with supplemented protein would work for breeders
You could give it a shot, if you don’t get good production then you’ll know you need more protein. Some people feed theirs lower protein and do ok but I know the vast majority have noticed they do much better with a little higher protein
How do I get myself a male and 2 female asf rats? Bloomington indiana
You will just have to look locally on Facebook and Craigslist. No one ships because the cost is so outrageous
Where did you get your asf at?
I found someone on Craigslist getting out of them
Do you sell ASF rats? I live in Harford county and I am looking at getting into ASF rats for my snakes
Yes I do :) you can message me on FB or IG about it
where do you buy your watering system?
I get all my parts from reptile basics for the watering system except the reservoir
@@CDExotics thank you
@@CDExotics last question lol what's the longest gestation period you've seen for pregnant females? a friend of mine was sold pregnant asf but it had been like 24-25 days and nothing...could they be late or just not preg?
I don’t count exact days but if they don’t look like they are going to explode after 20 ish days then they either aren’t pregnant or are barely pregnant