Age: >1 Year
Nicknames: N/A
African Soft Furred(ASF) Rats' Story: I have these guys for the same reason I have the mice. Unfortunately, mice take a long time to grow to adult size and they weren't breeding enough to feed my ravenous snakes, so I decided to try with african soft furred rats. They get to the size of an adult mouse in about four weeks. African Soft Furred rats are a lot different than mice. They aren't quite domesticated, so they have no fear and tend to be really nippy. Rather than hide from your hand, they have no problems about walking up to it and taking out a chunk. Their odor is significantly less offensive than mice and even rats. Even though they tend to get larger faster, my ASFs have had five babies per litter without fail, which is less than the average litter of my mice. They also breed slower. I currently have three females and a breeding male, along with their babies.
Two of my females are on the bottom, and the male is on the top. Their fur is extremely soft, almost comparable to a chinchilla. Mr. and Mrs. Copper's appetite is starting to die down as they prepare for their winter brumation, so I may be selling some of the ASF babies(I currently have 10) and seperating the males from the females in both the mouse and the ASF colonies for a breeding break/vacation. Since african soft furred rats are larger than mice, we(my partner) decided to build them their own enclosure. We used the instructions found here and this is how it came out:
We've been using it for several months now, and we are very happy with it. It was a huge pain to make, and it took all day, which is what's holding us back from making one for the mice. I'm really proud of my partner's DIY skills for making this. The feeding and watering are super convenient. I don't have to open up their enclosure, which is a nice pro for these animals since they stress out much easier.
-Cynthia
these guys are so cute! They look like little Disney mice lol
ReplyDelete"Tricky Thursday?" Never heard of that one, I have heard of "Tricky T Day" for dogs but never "Tricky Thursday" that's a new one on me! xoxoxo
@Cat Chat With Caren And Cody They are pretty cute! Tricky Thursday is just the trick training posts I started last week. I was going to do a new trick every Thursday but my camera has other ideas.
ReplyDeletehow big will the AFS get when full grown do you know?
ReplyDeleteI'd say about as long as the palm of your hand without the tail, and chubby. They're about three to four times larger than a normal mouse, and about four times smaller than a normal rat.
Deletewell i have soft fur but mine are a little bigger then yours and she give me 15 babies every 2-3 weeks
ReplyDeleteThey have started having more babies per litter, but even with three females in they only have babies every 2 or so months.
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