# ASF guide



## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Last years holdbacks are now accepting adult multis, so I'm looking at options given the rising cost of my frozen food bill. The current going rate is around £1.50 each, so each week that's £10.50 to feed the seven royals in my collection. 

So I'm considering breeding my own. But have questions that I've struggled to find the answers to 

Most seem to suggest a colony of 3 to 4 females to a male, and keep them together all of the time. Given that each female could have upto 12 babies in a litter, and drop a litter every month, its clear that the growth of the colony would be rapid. So I'm looking at possibly a starting with just a pair, or maybe 2 females and a male.

Housing will be in a standard lab rack cage. With a water bottle and diet will be blocks / oats / pasta and the odd treat of mealworms. However the wife doesn't want rodents in the house, so the alternative will be an insulated (very well insulated) shed (actually the "warm" room of my observatory). Would this need heating. If so then the only alternative to that (if I persuade the wife) is to house them in the back bedroom where two of the 7 royals are housed... which I'm guessing will drive the snakes wild !

Presumably when it comes to rearing, once weaned (4-6 weeks from what I've read) you would remove the young to another cage and grow them on. I'm guessing I would need two cages to keep the young mice separate thus preventing them from breeding and ending up over run with ASFs? Is there any issue to housing lots of males together, especially if more get added on a monthly basis.

How long would it take before the young reach around the 50g mark and be ready for culling?

Is this as economically viable as it seems? - Granted there is the initial set up cost of cages, bottles, and then regular costs of bedding and food, but would this work out cheaper on such a small scale compared to spending £72 every six weeks on a frozen food order.?

Would welcome some feed back


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## SnakeBreeder (Mar 11, 2007)

Malc I have been breeding mice and rats for over 30 years and ASF's for maybe 15 or 20 of those.
The thing to remember with ASF's is they chew. Anything that can be chewed and destroyed will be. Pet shop cages don't work, you need proper laboratory cages. Did I mention THEY CHEW EVERYTHING. 

Water bottles should be outside the cage, where they cant be got at, and have stainless steel tips.
Mice and rats wean at around 5 weeks. In my experience ASF's take longer and are older before they have their first litters. I always work on 3 months for the first litter from a female but they are productive longer than mice.
I keep all mine in colony groups of 3 or 4 males to maybe 10-12 females. Some people report male aggression but I very rarely see it unless you have more males than females. All the females in a colony will feed other females babies. 

When setting up new colonies use only animals under 3 months old.
Very important: once a colony is set up do not introduce any new animals. The colony will kill and eat it. 
I hope this helps. If you want feel free to message me any questions.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Thanks for the reply,

Yes I was looking at a Lab cage as mentioned as I've watched several videos where the abilities of ASFs to chew through normal caging are well documented. I found videos such as this one https://youtu.be/KHRY0zEr_zk useful.

So I need to pick up a couple of females and a male ASF that are just a few months old, and expect the first clutch when adults reach three months or thereabouts. The issue of introducing new animals to a colony is understood, but does this mean that for example I remove weaned animals to a separate cage, that I can't then add the second group of weaned animals to the same tub as the older animals will kill the younger. I'm guessing that by 10-12 weeks that first group of animals would be adult and ready for culling ?

When do you start rotating the adults? by that I mean when the adult female stops producing or the male can't perform (does that happen?). Or do you simply take three babies and use them to replace the parents, thus breeding brother and sisters? Is there any issue in insestual breeding rodents, bear in mind this is for food and not anything else ?

I guess what I'm looking for is some form of time table and schedule that I can follow.

Can you advise on my proposed locations for housing the cages and other questions / points I've raised in the first post?


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Just thinking about it, if I was culling at 6 week intervals after litter two (ie so the ones being culled are around 12 weeks and thus presumably adults) I would need more than two females.

Feeding 7 per week would suggest that I would need cull 42 items every 6 weeks once the first litter reach 12 weeks old. As the average litter size is around 9-12, I would need at least three, possibly four females to provide that volume. Have I got my maths right !


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## SnakeBreeder (Mar 11, 2007)

To setup unrelated ones in a colony just select several from your existing colony and the new ASF's you obtain. ALL should be less than 3 month old for better introductions. 
I keep my babies with the colony and just swap out (Cull) older animals so those colonies are a bit inbred. But as I say you can always mix and match new animals by setting up a new colony of unrelated animals. Such things are rare as all the ASF's in the UK, as far as I'm aware, originate from old European Laboratory breeding programs.
Most people keep at least 4 females in a colony system and I prefer more. They seem to prefer to be slightly overcrowded if anything. Keeping 6 females with a single male is common. and keeping 2 or 3 colonies keeps your options open. I have 4 colonies on the go at any time but if I get access to potentially unrelated animals I would happily set up another colony.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Thanks again for the info.


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