Transcription
[Music] Hey guys, how is everyone doing today? I hope you're having a great day.
So, this video is basically going to be about African soft-furred rats. I've had a lot of people asking for more details on caring for these guys, especially after the previous video I did on the three mice that I had, one of which was an African soft-furred rat. Now, unfortunately, it was done over a year ago now, and I do have, I have lost two of those. I lost Brie, the ASF, and I lost Edam to cancer, sadly, a couple of months ago. And I currently just have Rue, my single older female, in her Barnum cage. But I haven't gotten a replacement simply because I just don't want to. She's quite old now, I don't want to put her through the stress of trying to rebond with anyone, and she gets lots of pats and treats and kisses. So, she's just living out the rest of her elderly days in bliss, basically.
But that's not what this video is about. This video is about how to care for African soft-furred rats and kind of a general care guide for you guys. So, don't take everything what I say as law. You are free to research elsewhere. It's just this is a general care guide video.
Now, basically, in short, these guys are a little different to regular fancy rats and fancy mice due to the fact they haven't really been bred as pets. They are very commonly used as feeders for snakes, and so temperament hasn't really been as big of a factor to these guys. They are commonly mistaken for mats, for mats, for rats and mice, but they are technically neither. They are a class of their own. They are slightly bigger than fancy mice, but they are also smaller, usually, than pet rats, especially male rats. They are a lot smaller than male rats can get a lot bigger, almost twice the size.
These guys also come from a warm climate, hence the name, and they cannot really handle the cold at all. They should be kept in a house or a room that doesn't really drop below, I would say, 20 degrees. You can maybe go to 15, but I personally wouldn't do it if you want them to thrive and be very happy and healthy. Just keep them warmer. Plenty of ventilation is also really highly recommended. They are also susceptible to getting some respiratory illnesses, very similar to rats and mice, and so they need a lot of ventilation in their cage, and you can't really let the ammonia build up either.
They are a very communal species as well. They like to be in very large groups. You could easily, some people I've seen have groups of like 20 African soft-furred rats, just all huddled up in a bundle together. They are, however, slightly different to rats and mice in that you cannot really introduce two adults together who aren't already together. They usually will fight and probably kill the intruder. So, if you're going to introduce them, you need to introduce them when they're young. Trying to do so when they're adults will really cause a lot of problems. I've heard of people trying to introduce males to their female groups, and the males have literally just been killed. So, I would be very careful when it comes to bonding them and make sure you do it at a young age when they are less likely to be territorial and aggressive.
A lot, a lot of people will bond female African soft-furred rats to their male fancy mice because they cannot interbreed. And this will give company to the male mouse. A lot of people don't like having their male fancy mice by themselves, and this is a really good alternative to having female fancy mice, but then needing to operate and have the male neutered, which is, as you know, very dangerous for a creature as small as a mouse. This also falls onto if you need to take them to a vet or anything. Make sure you always take the group because if you do separate them very quickly, you will find trying to reintroduce them is a problem, and you won't be able to do it without there being bloodshed. They can be extremely territorial. Even though they are also one of the most social out of the three, they are one of the most territorial when it comes to new incomers. When it comes to newcomers, not new incomers.
The smell of African soft-furred rats, I have heard, is very similar to other rodent pets. However, they do not have as strong a musky smell as rats. But I wouldn't take this as an opportunity to clean them out less. They still will need cleaning out regularly to prevent buildup of ammonia and causing respiratory issues and other just general unwellness. If you don't clean them out often enough, but they will be less likely to smell as bad as male rats, also the same as male mice. And this is simply down to the fact that usually they don't need as much food and water intake as rats and mice. And that's mostly due to where they come from in the world. There just is less food available, and so naturally they eat less in captivity, and they drink less. And this can cause less essential waste, which means they might not smell as much as you would expect. But don't be lax on the cleaning.
Another fact is to keep the males separate. They can breed within two months of age, and once they have had a litter, they can essentially become pregnant immediately after. So, very quickly, a mixing of the genders can get out of hand, and you will be drowning in African soft-furred rats. I really recommend making sure you keep the males and females separate. They are relatively difficult to distinguish from each other if you aren't used to it. So, I would very highly make sure if you get them, you get them from a proper breeder who is able to tell the difference in genders. And just be very careful because oops, litters are very common in the rodent community. And African soft-furred rats are, in some cases, a lot more difficult to handle than rats and mice. So, I would just make sure you really are being careful in getting females to stay together in a group because a male will very quickly get out of hand.
Now, when it comes to their actual care needs, they are very similar to fancy mice, but we usually need a slightly larger cage. I personally would recommend the Barnum cage. That's what I use for my three, and it can easily house three to five of these guys. The more space you give them, the better, honestly. It's the same with mice, and it's the same with rats. The more space you can give them, the better it will be. There isn't really a thing as too much space. They are very inquisitive. They love to climb, they love to dig, they love to just get into things. So, if you can provide them a nice deep bedding, lots of rope toys to climb on, pretty much anything you can shove in their cage that they can go in and under and around, a lot of ladders, hiding places, basically just fill that house up similar to you would a mices, and they will love it. They will love you for it. They are very, very inquisitive. Burying things in the substrate is another really popular thing. They will make lots of little intricate tunnels, and it's, it's really fun to watch when they get going.
Now, when it comes to their behavior, their behavior is very 50/50. I've had a lot of people mention they have been able to tame their African soft-furred rats by handling them a lot when they were younger, and they basically just got used to their handling over time. But I've also had the complete opposite, and there have been some people that have been unable to even go near their African soft-furred rats without getting bitten. And this is basically due to the fact that they have mostly been bred as feeders. They, they're quite new in the hobby in terms of keeping them as a pet, and so their temperaments are still very 50/50. They've never really been bred for temperament by a lot of feeders. They've just been bred for food, and it comes down to just the healthiest ones will be bred from, and the ones that provide the best protein content are the ones that will be bred, not necessarily when it comes to factoring in how tame they are. Whereas fancy mice and rats have been bred for quite a while by many breeders, and most of them have focused very highly on the temperament of the animal, as well as the colors. Whereas African soft-furred rats are a little bit behind in this.
If you do work, if you do put effort into work with them and get them used to you, similar to how you would a mouse, a lot of food-based rewards are quite a good way to get them to be tamed. But at the same time, you need to be aware that they are slightly more likely to nip, and they might not be the best child pet compared to mice or rats. I wouldn't recommend those personally for children anyway, but if you were trying to get them for your child, I would recommend waiting until your child is maybe a little bit older, and they can understand that they might not be the best pet for handling. They might just end up being more of a hands-off pet.
African soft-furred rats live around two to four years, but this number does vary a lot again because they've been used mostly as feeders by a lot of people. The accuracy of their lifespan has skewed slightly, and you probably won't get the same answer wherever you look. Mine personally didn't live very long either. She was a rescue that was found on the streets, essentially. She was a runaway, I'm guessing from a feeder set, from from a feeder's house, and she came to me already sick and just unwell. So, I cannot give you an accurate representation of how long mine lived. She only lived about two or three months with me. No amount of care that I tried to do at the vets managed to help her. She got rid of one respiratory illness, and then she just went downhill. It, she just kept losing more and more weight, and the vet just wasn't sure what was wrong with her. So, I can't give you an accurate representation of a lifespan, but from what I have read, it is around two to four years. It does vary, as I said. Some people say five years, some people say one year, some people say 2.5 years. So, I would just take everything with a pinch of salt because it varies a lot.
Now, in terms of a diet, these guys are very similar to mice and will usually eat a grain-based diet. Lab blocks are quite popular among the feeder community and is a very good staple for them, but you should make sure to give them nice varied diets. So, vegetables, mealworms, millet seeds, basically just a good varied diet. It's beneficial for any pet, really. These guys aren't overly picky. They will eat a lot of different foods. They need it. Really, protein content is quite consistent. You can give them mealworms there's treats every now and again. They're a bit fatty, so I wouldn't recommend spam feeding these guys, but they are a very delicious treat, especially when it comes to trying to tame. I know my mice personally loved mealworms. They go nutty for them. They come out every time at the same day, every day, at the same time to get their treats in the evening. They're very, very spoiled. And just, just making sure that you do very shake the diet up a little bit. Just lab blocks can get very boring for pets, and you might find they'll go off of their food. So, just in co, like even table scraps is quite common to feed them because they just aren't very picky at all. I'm not really sure if there's anything that will outright kill them. I think chocolate is one that you probably should recommend not feeding them, but basically anything that is bad for mice and rats usually isn't the best for these guys. Just give them just extra vegetables, some millet and seeds, some little bits of protein. I think some people use cat and dog food as well at times to give them, just to up their protein content, basically. They're just not picky. So, just, just give them a bat, just give them a balanced diet like any pet. They just need different nutritions, different food keeps them interested, stops them getting bored and not eating what they're supposed to.
The downside, though, of these guys is they are escape artists. They can easily chew through plastic, much more easily than a mice, much more easily than mice and rats. And they are very unbelievably flexible when it comes to getting through small gaps. I know I recommended the Barnum cage earlier. It does have a plastic bottom. Basically, you need to be very mindful that they can chew through, and you really need to keep an eye on the cage to make sure they aren't actually destroying it. Mine personally didn't chew it really at all. They just kind of destroy everything else in the cage instead. But a lot of people will use tanks and essentially glass aquariums for these guys, and they have a very large mesh lid along the top for the ventilation. I personally don't recommend this. I don't think aquariums provide enough ventilation, but it is something to think about if you want to put them in a container that essentially isn't going to let them escape.
Overall, these guys can be great pets. They are relatively new to the exotic hobby in terms of having them as a pet. You just need to make sure you understand that carefully and just get, do as much research as possible. I'm just a very small fraction of the internet. You probably need to do, watch a lot more videos as well, just get more of a firm hand on it, and just confirmation. And you just make sure you give them the best life possible because I'm watching. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments, though. I will do my best to answer these. I will do my best to answer them. And I see you everyone who isn't subbed to me. I see most people who watch my videos are not subbed to me. Click that button if you want to see more. And don't forget little guilty merch. It's in the description. Till next time, guys. Bye.