African Soft Furred Natal Rats/Mice: Introducing adults and juveniles

http://www.rodentuniversity.com

Introducing two adult females to my 1.2 juvenile ASF group.

African Soft Furred Natal Rats (or multimammate mice) are notorious "biters", but they don't have to be. Even though they are great for the carnivorous rodent food trade, they are absolute cuties and deserve to have their place in the pet trade.

ASFs are jumpy, yes. Flighty, absolutely. But with regular, confident handling they can be great pets. Remember, animals learn what works: if they bite, and you leave them alone -- they learn that biting removes the giant hand from bothering them, and they are more likely to bite in the future.

ASFs deal a hefty bite, when they do bite. However, I've received nasty bites from spooked Spiny mice, Rats, Hamsters, Mice -- my worst bite was from a half-wild flying squirrel. As with all of these animals, patience, forgiveness, and steady confidence work wonders. Don't rush them, but don't be scared of them either.

This video is the first day of introduction of the two larger females to my three young 2-3 month old ASFs. One of the larger females is pregnant, and the other tried to "play dead" when she was frightened of my hands. You can see that the young ones, who have been handled regularly, are not afraid of my hands and inquisitively seek them out.

Feel free to read more about my rodents at my blog: http://www.rodentuniversity.com

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• ASF
• african soft-furred rat
• african soft-furred mouse
• natal rat
• natal mouse
• multimammate
• natal
• multimammate mouse
• multimammate rat
• Praomys
• Mastomys
• natalensis
• Praomys Mastomys natalensis
• Praomys natalensis
• Mastomys natalensis
• taming
• mouse
• rat
• introducing
• colony
• ASF colony
• ASF taming
• ASF handling
• ASF pet
• ASFs
• rats
• mice
• african soft furs
• african soft furreds
• african soft fur
• african soft furred

[Aquajerryum]

They are dorable for a rat. Whoda thunk it!

All I've seen says by all they are not so much biters, cool! I'd bite someone too if they swooped out of the air and picked up my skrawney carcass without me knowing. Rite on rats!

[rodenthideout]

adorable!!

[addyrain]

awww those are so cute!