So I have been breeding my own feeders for a few years and have a small local base I sell to. Recently I manged to get a startup colony of ASF and for months it has been great. They just had their first litters a few weeks ago and it has been all chaos at this point. I usually keep my mice in modified plastic totes (set up more like pet mice than feeders due to the small volume I breed).
Long story short these ASF have chewed through (thankfully not out of) 5 different types of bins. Last one was today… i was making sure the lod was flush and there must have still been a way for them to chew out… I even got tall bins so they wouldn’t just reach up to the lip/lid. They have chewed the trays out of the critter nation where i used to keep rats, a heavy duty cement mixing bin.
How the heck do you keep these things? I was told glass tanks but I don’t have space for 4 or so tanks of size to keep growout and breeder colonies in. I’d like to keep these as a feeder option as most of my locals keep ball pythons and were looking forward to being able to get ASF locally.
Thus far the ASF have chewed through more things than my jumbo rata ever did.
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What is the setup like in the bins you’ve been keeping them in?
I wish I had some experience like this with my ASFs so I could share something to help out but I guess my ASFs are just really chill with their bin setup lol. I have a large Sterilite clear bin I believe its like 60+ qts, the sides have cut out windows for airflow with quarter inch hardware cloth wire tied on the inside overlapping the edges of the plastic so they can’t chew through it and window screen on the outside to keep flies out.
Its the same setup I have for all of my rodents, with just varying bin sizes to accommodate the size of the animals.
The only escapees I’ve ever had in my rodent colonies is from females that are pregnant or have just given birth… perhaps its a hormonal drive that makes them want to seek out nesting options? Things I suggest doing is give them lots of nesting material so they can feel comfortable, especially ASFs because I’ve observed that they love confined tight spaces almost as much as some of my snakes do. They more comfortably nest under their hides full of stuffing like paper towel.
Another option I can suggest is giving them plenty to chew on, I personally don’t deal with cronic chewers that much but I do provide them jenga blocks- to keep them from getting soiled and buried under their bedding I drill a hole through one end and secure it to the enclosure wall with wire, a few of them will chew on it that way. I also supplement with shelled walnuts and almonds they can chew on, and they get a treat out of it once they chew through the shell.
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We use the deep, full size steam table pans (really deep lasagna pans) and a wire mesh top.
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Thankfully none have escaped escaped. But I was keeping them in the 60 and 90 quart bins, same brand! Actually had the sides cut out too for ventilation with the small hardware cloth. Also on the inside overlapping the plastic. But they started chewing the edges they could get to and i was worried… not that it mattered. At least one of the starter 6 females I have seemed determed to chew the tops and edges of the bins to make holes. Happenstance I had the bin inside of the critter nation as it was empty … so the adults got out but were contained.
I gave them hides, deep bedding, chew sticks, lava rock, ramen boxes as more hides. I even tried at one point to just house them in the critter nation… naturally they decided to try to have new pups and putting them in odd places to where i had one drop through the wire under the tray (they had eaten the corner of the plastic try, but the pup is fine. Thankfully I check fairly often on these guys and found it right away).