Lory laid 7 eggs!

This was a few days ago on the 6th. So they should hatch between... Aug 30 to Sept 3 or so. I can't wait! Pete was the father, so babies could be Pastel, Cinnamon, or maybe pewter like daddy if I'm really lucky! Or who knows? Maybe they are both het for something... there's always a chance.

Tumors in African Soft Furred Rats

I have been breeding African soft furred rats for a couple years now. I find them to be less smelly than Norway rats, and they are prolific breeders....
However, in addition to being nasty biters (ouch) they are prone to developing nasty rapid growing tumors. Within a week an affected rat can go from having rough-looking fur (tumors developing underneath) or a sore on the eye, ear, or under the jaw; to numerous bumpy, sometimes bleeding, lumps all over their body. I did a bit of research and found a bit more info on this problem:
http://www.metalmonkeyexotics.com/blog/?page_id=333

"Tumors

"ASF's are prone to spontaneous, fast growing warty tumors. From my readings in various papers, the warty and ulcer like tumors known as keratoacanthomas and squamous carcinomas, are associated with a papillomavirus (MnPV). The tumors can be seen in the vaginal region as a clustered mass, along the tail as bumps, on the back and hind quarters as warty black growths, or on the face of the animal. (Pictures can be found here)

"They will develop warty tumors, patchy hairloss, and osteoarthritis as they age past approx 9 months, although it can be younger, or delayed as much as 14 months, or not at all.

"So far, it would seem that the tumors develop after 9 -12months of age, although not all will get this condition.I have at least one Amber colored female well over 14 months of age that still has not developed any skin tumors or growths.

"The tumor development can be very fast and spontaneous. I've had one female just recently (6/1) who within days developed fast growing tumors all over her body, under the skin and on the skin surface. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't remember to before she was euthanized and destroyed. It was disturbing to see the alarming rate that the tumors grew, she had just reached approximately 8-9 months of age when these tumors developed."

Though I try to cull affected animals as soon as I notice them, I haven't been able to make a noticeable improvement since I have a colony-style environment. I am seriously thinking about trying to do some strict selective breeding to see if this problem could be at least reduced or delayed if not irradiated (I could work on the aggressiveness and biting too) .
Also, ... is there something in captivity that is causing this? Are they missing something in their diet? Do they need a different bedding? Do they need some light exposure?
I need to do more research. ....

Pete and Jewel

Pete is a busy boy! Jewel is just over 1300g. She's small yet, but maybe we'll get 3 or 4 eggs from her this year. Hopefully she'll eat a few more times and get her weight up. She's an African import, so who knows? She might throw something new :)

A Good Lock!

This is Pete and Tika! Tika has some insanely bright yellow on her lower half; it will be interesting to see if pastel babies will pick up some of this yellow. Other than that I suppose she is a normal. Pete is a pewter, so I could have baby pastels, cinnies, or maybe a pewter if I'm really lucky! I can't wait!! :)

Since I had the camera, I filmed the rats munching their veggies. Aren't they cute?

Even More Snakes!

We got another Craigslist adult female dry shed tank included snake. lol Same story, different day. We named this one Lory. So now we have 3 adult females. YAY! :)
This is Lory in her new home:













I also got more mail-order snakes! I have a pair of Mojaves, a yellowbelly male, a pair of het Axanthic males ... well, two,... not a pair and a trio of Bumblebees!!! *buzzing noise* I need to get pictures of everybody! EEK!! *happy dance*

More Snakes!

My new snakes arrived today via mail. You can mail snakes? wow!
I was really scared - totally on pins and needles the whole time. But they are alive and kicking and seem to be just fine. I got a pair of ball pythons, a male pastel and a female spider- wow is she neat looking! I also got a pair of Brazilian Rainbow Boas- These snakes are spectacular! Here's pictures:

Second Snake!

We got another snake a few days ago. Almost the same situation as our first- adult female, tank and heat lamp included. She was covered in dry, pealing shed. She has a tight cross mark on her right eye from eye cap retention; I hope she is not permanently blind. :(
I sat down with a warm wet towel and rubbed off all the dry shed and I think I got off all the old eye scales. Her eye... not sure how well she can see, it is definitely dented. Maybe time and a few good sheds will heal it.
We've named her Rahja and our other female Tika. We took them both outside today and let them play in the grass. They loved it! I don't think either one of them had ever been able to do that before. Neither of them wanted to go back inside. We'll have to bring them out whenever we can on nice warm days! :)