Housing male ASFs together?

by Sam Wed 22 Aug 2018, 3:26 pm

Do you think it's necessary to keep male African soft furred rats together, like it is with female ASFs and female mice? The lady I got mine from was selling females in groups and males strictly alone, making me think that maybe it is just like mice.

I was supposed to be getting four "for sure" female babies, but I ended up also getting a boy. I didn't know where I'd get more ASFs so I've been housing him alone and handling him fairly often. He's displaying signs that make me think that he could want company, but I didn't want to travel two hours to get another male only to have them kill each other.

Every post I find online, although usually quite old, says that ASFs must be housed in groups, not once mentioning male/female.

Now I'm having an accedental ASF litter, so I will likely have some boys. If anyone has experience housing males together I would very much appreciate it.

by Blessed Thu 23 Aug 2018, 10:07 pm

Hey there, Sam! Mouse Wave

I think it'd be really nice if you kept two together; they're super social and don't like being alone. In fact, my last female mouse housed with my female ASF rat, Natalie, just died, leaving Natalie alone, and she seemed SO lonely and a bit depressed. I felt so bad for her, so a couple of days ago, we stopped by PetSmart and I picked out a young friend for her. Natalie does seem a lot happier again with another critter in her tank, so that's a plus. :-) I think your ASF rat will be lonely living by himself, and I do think it'd be fine if you housed two male Natal mice together, but if you're really uncomfortable with the thought of that, then getting a normal mousey friend would be great. Two Thumbs

by Sam Thu 23 Aug 2018, 10:59 pm

Blessed wrote:Hey there, Sam!
I think it'd be really nice if you kept two together; they're super social and don't like being alone. In fact, my last female mouse housed with my female ASF rat, Natalie, just died, leaving Natalie alone, and she seemed SO lonely and a bit depressed. I felt so bad for her, so a couple of days ago, we stopped by PetSmart and I picked out a young friend for her. Natalie does seem a lot happier again with another critter in her tank, so that's a plus. :-) I think your ASF rat will be lonely living by himself, and I do think it'd be fine if you housed two male Natal mice together, but if you're really uncomfortable with the thought of that, then getting a normal mousey friend would be great.

Thanks for the reply! The cage I have him in isn't really suitable for mice IMO. Or at least my mice would hurl themselves off the ledges, as they've proven to me, since there's a lot of climbing space. Male mice are equally as social as ASFs but still kill other males, I'm just not sure if these rats do too. I suppose I'll wait and see how this litter goes and try a boy with him, I just know by then they'll be way different sizes and if they decide to fight there'll be an obvious winner. In 2 1/2 months when the babies are completely weaned I'll try it out

by Sam Tue 28 Aug 2018, 2:25 am

Little update!! It's been a whole day since birth and the litter of ASFs are doing great. I counted twelve but there's likely more Very Happy

Also, I found someone on Instagram who had two males ASFs together. They were fine as adolescents but fought once they were mature and needed seperated. I'm not going to risk a baby with him, but apparently I wasn't thinking before. He may be able to go with a couple of my girls, but that would be after the whole baby mess calms down

by Blessed Tue 28 Aug 2018, 2:22 pm

I'm glad your natal babies are doing good!

But, housing your lone male ASF rat with the females defeats the purpose of no more babies, or is that what you're wanting...for them to breed?

by Sam Tue 28 Aug 2018, 3:13 pm

Ah sorry about that, I meant my mice. I guess I never though he could go in their cage instead of them in his.

by Blessed Wed 29 Aug 2018, 5:56 pm

Sam and their pets wrote:Ah sorry about that, I meant my mice. I guess I never though he could go in their cage instead of them in his.

Ah, okay. Yep, most definitely however you wanna' do it! Smile

I would love to see you stay around the mouse forum, and maybe see updated pictures of your new little babies as they grow. Very Happy

P.S. Sorry if I came across as a little rude.

-Blessed

by Sam Wed 29 Aug 2018, 11:32 pm

Ah no worries, I'd have said the same Smile

The babies are still going strong and are getting a little fuzzy now. If I can figure out how to add photos I'll try to do updates

I'll almost definitely be putting Grus with a lone female mouse. Her companion Ver passed away for no apparent reason yesterday, but I'll wait a bit to make sure it's nothing contagious. I really wasn't expecting it but I guess it may turn out to be not so bad

by Yorke Sun 02 Sep 2018, 5:49 am

I keep my ASF buck with a group of fancy female mice and my fancy mice buck with a pair of ASF does.
They seem to appreciate the company and no pups unless i plan a litter.

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