I bought a group of 2.4 but one of my males was sick and skinny so he is gone. I now have one big breeding group of 1.4. They do bite but have already had one litter of six and one other female is prego. They dont smell either, I mean they have a smell thats kind of sweetish but its not rank like mice.
I was initially a bit worried by the reports that they bite, but the breeder that I got my first group (which turned into 2 smaller groups) is a SERIOUS breeder. I mean, she has 300+ preceding groups, and she asked if I was wanting the ASF strictly as breeders or as pets. That question lead us into a discussion about biting and she informed me that she had been working on a "pet line" of ASFs (which were her Gingers). I ended up getting one Ginger male (which was supposed to be my only male) and a Ginger female, even though they cost a little more, with the intention of handling my ASF frequently enough that if someone came to me wanting one for a pet I would be able to provided it.
I have to hand it to the breeder, she has done a FANTASTIC job of socializing (perhaps even domesticating to some extent)! The Gingers compared to the Agouti are like night and day! The Agouti are much much more "wild" acting, giving little nips and running in terror if I stick my hand into the RUB, while the Gingers are calm, relaxed, a drill happily crawl onto my hand when I reach in. The Gingers have never even "nipped" me.
You are absolutely correct concerning the smell. I have always despised the smell of mouse, but I (personally) find the ASF's slight smell pleasant--kinda like nutmeg or cinnamon.
The White-Spot ASFs I picked up from the other breeder act much like the Agouti from the first breeder (terrified and hyper), but the second breeder admitted to me that this was her first litter of ASFs and I don't know to what degree she handled them (plus they are SO young...). It will be interesting to see how they developed with regular handling.
Having the one "semi-domesticated" group to compare to the "wild" group, once the start producing, will be interesting as well, imo.
ANOTHER interesting bit of info from the first breeder, is that she also raises mice and claims that the ASFs will readily adopt litters from mice moms. She said she no longer lets any of her mice raise their own litters and just fosters them over to the ASF moms, and said that by doing so she has increased her mouse production significantly--no longer having litters randomly eaten by the mothers. If so, I may go back to raising mice, though on a MUCH smaller scale (so as to avoid the overpowering smell of mouse).
Thanks for posting! Any advice you may have would be gratefully appreciated, and it would be great to have someone else's colony to compare my own to!
~Beau
Why, oh why, does real life to suck so bad? Why does it always get in the way...? <shakes fist at sky> <sigh>