Good quality dog food (20%+ protein) supplemented with “flock party” dried mealworm/black soldier fly larvae (45%+) works very well for us. We also include a little mixed hay (like for rabbits) and fresh veggies when we change out bedding (weekly). Live crickets make a favorite treat and provide excitement and enrichment as the asf hunt them down.
Typically, the first litter of a new colony is at risk, after that we don’t usually have a problem. Habitual baby eaters get culled. Biters/agressives get culled. Runners and crazy jumpers get culled. Escapees get culled. I can reach into any of our tubs no problem no bites. When I separate the growouts, I can rake through the “fluff pile” with no worries. You get there by culling for behavior, hard.
10 breeding colonies of 1.3 to 1.5 provide enough offspring for us to feed 65+ snakes. A week. Adults and babies. We have to manage the growout asf tubs to provide juvenile sized food and adult sized food, as well as replacement colonies. Everyone wants to eat an asf. Even confirmed mousers among the ball pythons take them (2.3 switched over from what they were exclusively eating when we got them). If one of our snakes turns down asf, I know to check them. As a side note, all my BPs will still take f/t rat, none of them are “stuck” on asf, all babies we sell are regular f/t rat eaters before they go.
I haven’t seen definite research, but from experience based on feeding and handling asf vs rats/mice, I think the asf are higher protein and slightly lower fat content. The snakes seem healthier with better energy and colors and smaller and more completely digested feces (I think the fur is easier to digest). I wonder about the longer term health value for our boas and kings, can a higher protein smaller meal (compared to norway rat) help them grow better? We’ll see.
Highly recommend mealworms. Our female is about to pop again. Literally had to feed off 2 other females since we were having way too many asfs, and they take forever to reach maturity, but I guarantee you she is already pregnant again.
We’ve fed a bunch of babies off already. We have 60 babies at one time. They will pop out babies every 21ish days.
Yeah, moms will stress eat. We had the exact same problem with our cats, until we moved the colonies to a secure room.
1.2 colonies didn’t work for us. The girls never get a break from the male, so they kill him, eventually. We found that 1.4 is a good ratio for our current tub size, but bigger floor space would support a larger colony. I personally wouldn’t risk less than a 1:3 ratio in a larger colony, I think the girls would decide to reduce the breeding stress. Our 1.4 colonies seem to be pretty low stress, they usually have 2 litters nursing and by the time the third is born, we’re pulling weans, so the moms are all getting a little break between litters and the nursing load isn’t too high on them so they keep a good body weight and condition.
Make sure to pull the weans, regularly, if the colony gets too crowded in the tub, the moms will start reducing the numbers. If you let the feed hopper go dry, even for a day, and there are lots of young, especially different ages, the moms will act to reduce the competition for food.
Update! I have tamed down one of the adult females to the point she will approach me to take yogi trearts from me. She is also very careful not to bite me when taking them from my fingers. The others are still fearful but are starting to eat in my presense. Glad the colony i was given seems to be quick to get used to me i was expecting demon spawn for my first gen haha
We had chewers and we fed those off very quickly. Went through a few tubs. Congrats though. Get ready for a ton more in 21-25 days. I’m sure the female is already pregnant again. As soon as ours drops a litter, she’s knocked up again.
I pull ours when their eyes open fully. About when the last asf opens its eyes the mom is about to pop again.
We had a 1:3 ratio and had to feed 2 of the moms off, just way to many asfs, they were having about 14-18 each all right around the same time. 1:1 or 1:2 I think works best for our needs we have a 1300g leopard that is an asfer only. And a good chunk of smaller ball pythons. Our youngest is 6 months old at whopping 250g. She was fed mice until we got her and we are starting to break that habit finally. She’s long but skinny.
What is a safe water dish to have with the ratlins that are opening their eyes? I know with all the babies they are gonna need fluids that arent mama milk soon, but i dont want to put something that might harm them in there
I ran into that w/ both regular rat babies and mice too, the sneaky buggers. I wrapped the cages in 1/2" hardware cloth (for rats) and 1/4" (for mice) on their enclosures; it was fastened with zip ties. Aside from having to replace a zip tie here and there, it worked great for me for years.
My rats the male and female use tolet themselves out all the time. One time they ate all my brothers silk worms and then got back in the cage. Omg they were huuuuuuge
But they are soooo cute the last time i fed my Mangrove Monitor a live mouse was the last time i fed a live mouse. I felt really bad wound up with several pet mice after im really glad they have F/T bc i don’t think i could keep a snake ugh.
i was expecting demon spawn for my first gen haha
I wrapped the cages in 1/2" hardware cloth (for rats) and 1/4" (for mice) on their enclosures; it was fastened with zip ties. Aside from having to replace a zip tie here and there, it worked great for me for years.
the last time i fed my Mangrove Monitor a live mouse was the last time i fed a live mouse. I felt really bad wound up with several pet mice after