RCReptiles.com

[mechnut450]

Hi all I am new to the forums. I have 2 rodent questions. I have kept breeder rodents for my ( currently 13 snake colony) for years. I have recently seen a development in the female rats. They will be find and do great but the last 3-4 females have died out on me about right before they give birth or while giving birth. I replaced the colony every so often to try and keep the genes pool from getting to closed up.. But the this last group done great up until these last litters. the females will get about the size of a tennis ball and she will loose the use of her rear legs and then they dye most the time before mom can let me know ( she cares for the rat as her pets ) She has gotten to the point once it seen she calls me and we both hope I can get home before they pass away.

I am currently looking for somewere in lower delaware to aquire asf to replace this entire colony since it appears to be developing issues. I have plenty of room for a colony and I like to be able to aquire at least enough asf to make sure I have amply supply onhand once the last order of frozen rodents run out .. Any help on either will be of a great help.

Terry

[snakesRkewl]

I've lost a couple of rats just before birthing, but I really have no clue why the expired. They didn't have respiratory issues, just maybe couldn't deliver and passed. Otherwise I'm not familiar with a disorder like you describe.

ASF's are easier in my opinion, but I've been lucky to have prolific breeders, and they have been dropping back to back litters of an average of 11 babies.
ASF's only get so big, so we use them for snakes below 1500 grams, above that gets small/medium rats.
We have a large amount of smaller snakes, so it works great for us.
But if we have to feed asf's to a large snake, say 2500 grams, we'd have to basically give 3-4 for it to make up for one good size regular rat.
In short yes it helps to do asf's, but if you are feeding alot of larger snakes, they may not fill your snake up

[mechnut450]

well outside of the 2 I am watching for a friend all of mine are under 1000 grams. and then only 4 are over 500 grams. and at that 5 are this year hatchlings. I have 2 normals ( one reduced pattern ) that I hatched out from a rescued pair of bps that had a unplanned breeding since they came with mites and i was cleaning them and the cages I placed them in a pillow case and left them over night and nature took care of the rest lol. I got an ablino and a pair of jol axanthic hets ( these are all 08s) plus I got 2 07 het pieds from different breeders last year. ( they my main hops for next year). I also got a pair of yearling corns. Then comes the 2 that started it all both are over 12 years of age a butter corn ( guessing about 15 years old ) that I got as a rescue back in 97 ( he was over 3 ft long and full grown thickness wise) and then there is the wild caught 4 ft black rat that I had since early 95 ( she was 3ft then and I only kept her cause I had broken her back (stepped on her in the woods) and figure she was going to die( but still around and as evil as ever ).. my plans for the future are to breed a pied, an axanthic and possible a snow. ( with the possible of a pied,ablino,axanthic if I ever get to try a triple combo . I am hoping that asf would be faster breeders and a lot easier to care for than the rats ( my niece also wants an asf for a pet (she says they look like alf from some tv vhs she seen ) so there another reason for them lol.

[snakesRkewl]

HaHa, a pet huh, well, hate to burst your bubble, but ASF's are wild, and are notorious biters.
Mine will bite you for even thinking of touching the little ones.
Now I've heard you can tame them, but I'm doubting they make very good pets.
They hop, and are very quick. They hate being touched, but maybe someone has tamed some, but all of mine are biters.
Not that I care, I tell em, and show em whose boss, trick em and snatch em up by the tail with ease.
The females are super protective.
We bought 25 Adults to start with, 20 females and 5 males, and after pairing them up,
23 months later we have 60 weanlings, and 8 new litters of about 90 some babies.
Also 3 females are almost ready to drop again, but they are still nursing, lol.
Prolific to say the least.

[mechnut450]

might be true but I am wanting to switch to them for now because the rat pups grow too fast to be useful with my current lot and then ther the issue of them dying off on me.. ( the female dropped her load but still dragging her rear and is starting ot get more like a beanbag chair than a rat ( other females are takeing care of the young).

also is there such a thing as an africain soft fur mouse ( pet shop got some in but I woulfd not know the difference between the 2 if I went after what he offering.