I love that cube, is it a childs toy?, I need to get one of those.

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Isn't the cube great? I found it at a church sale, it lost the bottom so it sinks perfectly into the shavings. It's perfect for young mice.

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We have begun the experiment to see if we can incorporate the African Soft Furred Rats into our biggest tank. First step was having them interact in a neutral setting so we could observe behavior on both sides. We chose Marigold to go first because she is younger and more mouse sized...




As you can see, she was not attacked at all and instead welcomed in a friendly manner. That's Tootsie, one of our oldest mice saying hi...




Tootsie followed Marigold all around the neutral tank for awhile, fascinated by her. Mari didn't seem to care, but lack of interest is good too, because it's not aggression...




Marigold joined in on the mesh wheel games and climbed the bars with the group. I find it amazing that she seemed to fit in so perfectly. More pics of the first phase introduction soon...

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I'm probably going to make myself sound really stupid now, Firstly I know nothing about African Soft Furred Rats, but I did have pet rats and mice a long time ago and once two mice escaped (when I stupidly left the door open to refill the food bowl) and went on a mission which led over the top of the rat cage, the rats dragged them in and ate them within a couple of minutes of them being missing. Also I need to know more about your ASF rats they are beautiful.

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Yeah, you have to be really careful when you have both rats and mice, as most rats will definitely eat mice if they can catch them. ASF's aren't like normal rats, they are big like them but are something else entirely. I find it fascinating that the mice get along so perfectly with them, like yesterday when I introduced my younger ASF Marigold to my largest group of Fancy mice. It went smashing, I was shaking my head in amazement...

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Here are the rest of the promised pics of Marigold's introduction to my Fancy mice...




As recommended by her breeder, I had food sprinkled atop the shavings to see how she and the Fancy mice would react to her eating with them...




It went very well as you can see above, with Pixie actually stealing treats out of Mari's paws like she was any other mouse. Mari didn't mind at all, she fit in fine...




One-by-one the more curious of the Fancies came by to examine this strange creature, and each one accepted her on the spot, even to the point of preening her head...




I was so impressed by the progress that I decided to take it to the next phase and started putting mice back in their home tank, including Marigold herself...




That's her atop the right-side hutch, snuffling amongst the hay. Will she fit in and become a permanent part of the group though? Only time will tell. ASF's are definitely not like any other rats I've encountered...

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wow your mice are Amazing! i love your new Devil dogs ones!

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"If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters must be outnumbered. They must be outshouted, out financed, and out voted. Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural processes."
L David Mech

We have doomed the Wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be..the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer..which is, in reality no more than a reflexed images of ourself." -Farley Mowat

Tell me more about the ASF ones pleeeeze, I have never even heard about then till your post.

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Thanks.


Let's see, from the research I'm done on them, most of the original ASF stock comes from ones that were captured in Natal, Africa. They are also known as Natal Multimammate rats or Common African rats. Also Devil Dogs, I like that one.

They are called multimammate because the does have more teats than any other rodent, and it's fur is considered to be the softer then any other rat. Some scientists believe the ASF is the link between mice and normal rats, but so far no definite determination has been made, so the ASF has been considered to be both and either by different classifications. And some newer research has shown it to not be directly related to either mice or rats so the debate doesn't look to be ending anytime soon. They normally breed at four months and produce large litters that wean at four weeks. The pups are born with hair and their eyes usually open after two weeks.

That's the basics.

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I would love to show you pictures of Marigold's progress in our largest tank, but I have not seen hide nor hair of the little ASF since I added her to the group. During her first minute in there she vanished down into the PVC tunnel network and that was three days ago. I'm sure she comes out to eat and drink, but so far not when I'm in range.

I can show you her older friend though, who is currently living on her own...




Tumble is such a large creature, I'm hesitant to try her out with Fancy mice...




The white-faced Pied is easily three times the size of our largest Fancy and despite being gentle my worry is that a more fragile normal mouse might get accidently hurt during normal play...




I don't know, perhaps I am just being paranoid, the other Multimammate Marigold joined her new tank without a single incident, so why should Tumble be any different?




She certainly is a playful thing, she loves her gravity wheel. I recently put her in a 30g tank and made sure the first toy I put in was it, Tumble needs her hourly jog, lol.

The oddest thing, though, is that she doesn't appear to eat hardly anything. I had expected ASF's to be food hogs but nope. Anyway, going to have to think on the Tumble situation some more...

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