I have one. Got a cheapo off Amazon for $5. Used it to make quarantine bins for my BPs. A lot easier then using a drill lol
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Woohoo!! Seemed to take forever but I had my first group of little beans drop today. And 2 more females about to pop lol. I count 10 in the first litter. Hoping they don’t eat them as that happens sometimes. Thinking low stress thoughts lol.
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I have never seen a rat so round omg. I am so happy humans don’t have that many babies at once. She looks like she is about to explode. 
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She does. Even a little rounder today. My second female popped but I’m not sure how many were in litter number 2. Got a pretty good bite from mom #2 while checking on them. I’m guessing female 3 will have the biggest litter but we will see.
Also tip for anyone else that needs to know to take out the exercise wheel after a first litter except for a couple hours a day. My first mom ran on the wheel all night and wasn’t taking care of her babies. Fortunately the other females covered for her but apparently they can be somewhat “addicted” to exercise and especially first time moms might neglect the babies so. Put the wheel in for a few hours only in the evening to burn off their energy then take it back out. Working so far, and mom was on them during the day so crisis averted I believe
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I tried ASF breeding, I used tanks plenty of hides, deep bedding, wheel and chews. Those murderous demon spawns killed each other. So needless to say the last surviving member was fed to my garbage can ball python. It was a fitting end to a murderous rodent. I will never understand how rodents survive the evolutionary lines.
Hearing stories more and more 
there’s an insane difference between different lines temperament wise. If you get a wild one I don’t know what you could really even do. Give up or find different ones I guess xd
Figured I would share this girl here because after working with these little ones for a few years she amazes me haha. This is his 3rd litter of 25 plus babies. I actually paired her with a different male this go to see if anything changed and she still dropped a huge litter. We always see great numbers but this girl is on another level.
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What’s the most you see per female that they can have enough milk to nurse or does it just depend on the female?
Our ave litter size last year was 15. This big girl hasn’t had a single still or loss in 3 straight litters but she is def not the norm. She looks like a football when she is carrying. I add another female in with her to handle these huge litters but she could probably handle them herself, just don’t want to test it. Our normal breeding tub set up is 1.2 or 1.3 with the right male and we have had only one lactation issue we believe was from a water valve not working correctly. If I had to put a number on it I would say 1 female could handle around 16 on her own.
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Seems reasonable. My first litter was 12 (that I know made it,) I have 2 other females one is either behind a bit as she was the youngest or will have a smaller litter but I bet this girl will have at least 15. She’s SIGNIFICANTLY fatter than my first female and that litter came 4 days ago so hoping for a smooth delivery!
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It’s almost comical at this point
I need to know this, as it is very important…how much does she waddle? 
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Definitely has failed her climb on to the water bottle many times the last few days poor girl. Breeding life is hard! They help nurse the babies even if they haven’t had their own litter yet! Very strong and specialized instincts in colony animals to sacrifice for the next generation.
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I love that mostly white one! If you were closer I’d be tempted to do a trade of weaned ones and add some of that coloration to my lines 
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@solsticeroyals Thank you! She’s probably my fave as well.
I’m new to colors with them but apparently she is still a cinnamon just a high white one. So if you have any cinnamon perhaps you’ll be able to make one!
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Hello! So as an update. I picked up 2.3 feeder asfs a little over a month ago from a local reptile breeder. I split them 1.2 and 1.1. So far not seeing any plump females. Today, I just picked up a colony of pet quality asfs, and I’m still hesitant to handle them even though the person I got them from said she has never been bitten by them. Anyways, they are a colony of 3.6. I was wondering if I should leave them like that, or would it be safe to split them into two 1.3 colonies with the extra male having to be solo…
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These things are kinda cute. I think my fav rodent is still squirrels though.
So…I came home from work and I was hearing squeaking, took a look in my 1.2 colony and saw the to females up front. They sure as heck didn’t look prego but apparently one of them was cause I saw little jelly beans under them. 
Got a quick count, looks to be 10-11 babies. First litter under my watch.
Still curious about if I am able to split the 3.6 colony. Any info if that would be safe? Currently no little beans in there…
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I’ve only kept and bred ASFs for about 6 months, but I’d definitely recommend splitting that large group up for optimal results. I have noticed fighting among males with some of the larger groups I had in the past, and now prefer to separate them once they’ve hit their sexual maturity.
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Would 1.6 be to much for one male?