# My African Soft Fur Rats



## SiNi5T3R

So, I really only see people with normal large rats on this site so I thought I would post a picture of my African Rats. These guys are not as nice tempered as the usual large pet rat and WILL bite really hard if you stick your hand in there tank or try to pick them up but you have to admit they are super cute! they look ALOT different then the normal rat and dont get nearly as big. They get about triple to size of a mouse. I have seen them in some pet stores for as much as 30$ a Rat since they are really rare in some area's and are considered Exotic. I got lucky and found a breeder in Phoenix selling them for 1$ a piece. When I went to his house he had like 200 of them which is insane. He had 3 20 Gallon Long tanks PACKED with them. So I bought a few and left...he also seemed like he bread dogs..lol..

Anyway here is a picture! Tell me what ya think!


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## Rattus

I like their ears. Are their health needs the same as a standard rat?


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## SiNi5T3R

Pretty Much, Iv noticed that they LOVE veggies. They will eat lettuce like no other...

The only problem with them is they are hard to accept new tank mates. I bought a little boy that was smaller from a pet shop, put in him there and five min later three of my bigger adults killed him before I could do anything. But they are SUPER soft ^^


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## Jaguar

what are those shavings?


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## SiNi5T3R

I believe its pine. I read on this site its bad for them so next change ill be gettin somethin different or start using news paper again.


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## Jaguar

yes, pine is awful X_x especially in tanks where there's no ventilation. use newspaper or paper towels if you've got nothing else for now.


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## Rattus

lol, yeah, that's why i was asking about the health needs, because i noticed they were in an aquarium, and had pine shavings. Well, first thing to do for sure, like jaguar said is get rid of the pine shavings, because with them being in an aquarium, the damage done to their respiratory system will happen twice as fast. And next thing to consider is getting a cage instead of the aquarium, they will live longer, and will be much happier. ;D


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## ema-leigh

ASF's are known for their chewing ability - never house them in a plastic/wooden cage. It sounds like you got them from a very shady source... poor things :-\

Do you have mixed genders? 

They are very very cute, but after I researched them I decided they didn't make good pets.


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## Nienor

Are those Mastomys ? At least they look like it ..
They should be very aggressive and have up to 22 pups per litter .. but they are pretty intelligent and get along with bedding far better than our rats .. they love to dig in bedding and therefore seem to need it as far as I know ..

But the wheel is pretty dangerous, they might hurt themselves severly when getting stuck : http://www.timanfaya.ping.de/bilder/laufrad3.jpg and it should be covered with something so they do not have to walk on the wire or their feet get between it ..


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## SiNi5T3R

Nienor said:


> Are those Mastomys ? At least they look like it ..
> They should be very aggressive and have up to 22 pups per litter .. but they are pretty intelligent and get along with bedding far better than our rats .. they love to dig in bedding and therefore seem to need it as far as I know ..
> 
> But the wheel is pretty dangerous, they might hurt themselves severly when getting stuck : http://www.timanfaya.ping.de/bilder/laufrad3.jpg and it should be covered with something so they do not have to walk on the wire or their feet get between it ..




Just looked up pictures of "Mastomys" and it looks like they are. is that just another name for African Soft Furs? and yes they are super aggressive.


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## lilspaz68

Well my little rescue Natal hasn't read the manual on how she is "supposed" to be LOL

She lives with 2 female mice right now, her favorite mouse companion just passed on today so I will have to get her more soon as the sister has hind limb paralysis going on (vet tomorrow) and the older mouse has developed an abdominal tumor.

Mini was pretty young when she arrived and I had NO clue about her, but heard they could live with mice well, so I got her an old lady mouse in need of rescue.

She loves her companions, and sleeps with them in a double decker hammock

This is their home 










Mini gently grooming old Macy while her cage is cleaned



























Checking things out with her friends


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## Rhasputin

i have a ton of ASFs. The one thing I can tell you is to MAKE SURE you get a glass water bottle. Otherwise you will be buying a lot of plastic ones to replace the chewed ones. 

Mine are quite friendly.


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## SiNi5T3R

Rhasputin said:


> i have a ton of ASFs. The one thing I can tell you is to MAKE SURE you get a glass water bottle. Otherwise you will be buying a lot of plastic ones to replace the chewed ones.
> 
> Mine are quite friendly.



Thats for sure lol they are stuck with a bowl right now


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## blenderpie

The exotic pet store that is near my campus always has African Soft Furred Rats. I went online to see what they were like and my findings is that they were a lot more like a pet mouse than a rat (which is not something that I was looking for), aren't they in the mouse family?


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## Rhasputin

They're not mice or rats. But they're in the Muridae family.

they have a bazillion names. Natal Multimammate mouse, Common African rat, African house rat, African soft furred rat, Multimmamate mouse, Natal rat, ASF, Mastomys natalensis. . . I think there are more than that.


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## blenderpie

Well they sure are cute, whatever they are!


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## SiNi5T3R

blenderpie said:


> The exotic pet store that is near my campus always has African Soft Furred Rats. I went online to see what they were like and my findings is that they were a lot more like a pet mouse than a rat (which is not something that I was looking for), aren't they in the mouse family?



They are like Triple or quadriple the size of a Full grown jumbo Mouse. My Females are HUGE but not nearly the size of a Rat and they grow really slow.


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## Rhasputin

I may be jaded by my foot long mice. 

But my largest ASF is about 2 1/2 times as large as a mouse.


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## gweneverelynn

They're amazing! Thanks for sharing ;D They have that exotic look to them which I love. I have a Sugar Glider as well as my colony of rats. They kinda remind me of her type of look. Beautiful.....


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## SiNi5T3R

gweneverelynn said:


> They're amazing! Thanks for sharing ;D They have that exotic look to them which I love. I have a Sugar Glider as well as my colony of rats. They kinda remind me of her type of look. Beautiful.....


yeah they are really Cute. You know whats weird about them..they only come in about 4 different colors LOL...White and Black, Black, and Orange, and white and orange. its weird....


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## Rhasputin

asfs don't come in black.

They come in cinnamon, agouti, argente, platinum, pew, and bew.


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