Photo of the Day! 10/12/15

Sega having a sunflower seed

Feeding gerbils by hand is a great way to build trust with them.

Gerbils are wonderfully inquisitive critters but you might find when you first purchase them they run away the minute you get too close. Start by holding a piece of food through the bars of the cage (sunflower and pumpkin seeds always go down a treat!) and with a bit of patience they'll begin to trust you enough to take the food from you. When they do so, then begin putting your hand inside the cage with a treat. Finally once they're confident with that start holding out your palm and placing the treat on there and eventually they'll be happy to climb onto your hand for food. It's a great way to start to build trust between you and your gerbils.

Factfile #01 - Duprasi

The Duprasi (Fat-Tailed Gerbil): An underrated little companion

 The amazing little Duprasi (Pachyuromys duprasi) has been virtually unknown in the pet trade until recently but are now starting to crop up in small pet stores across the globe. These adorable little critters are part of the Gerbillinae family and are lovingly referred to as the 'fat tailed gerbil' due to their strikingly chubby little tail. Though related to gerbils, I would have to say their temperament is far more like a hamster's... they're super docile and will happily sit in your hand, content with being stroked. Don't get me wrong though you'd never be able to call them boring; pop them down on the floor and they'll dart around all over, and despite not being great climbers you'll see them attempt to clamber up objects and burrow into any small space they can find. You'll also find that Duprasi rarely, if ever, bite and if they do it's only ever usually if they've been woken abruptly and haven't had a chance to wake up fully before being handled. 

Duprasi love to sleep
upside down. It's
ADORABLE.

Appearance?

The Duprasi, aside from being obviously adorable, has a thick, fluffy and silky coat so make sure if you have/are thinking about getting one to allow them access to a dust bath to keep it pristine. Their max body length is around 10cm with a tail length of 5cm. They have small little legs and beautifully big doting eyes - are you falling in love yet?

Food/ Housing/ Cage Mates?

Food-wise a Duprasi will generally eat any good quality rodent mix. They are insectivorous in the wild and mine are pretty partial to mealworms as a treat, though my little male Hugo only seems to be interested in the dried ones, bizarrely running away from the live variety! You can also give them vegetables and fruit on occasion; Maisie & Hugo both love carrots and have eaten cabbage, apples and broccoli happily and love to chew hay from time to time.

Ferplast Gerbilarium

In terms of housing there's mixed things online regarding a cage. In photos and videos you see a lot of people housing them in hamster type cages, whereas in text it suggests gerbilariums are more suitable. At present I have one in each..I housed both at first in a Ferplast glass gerbilarium (left; excuse the mess, he's due a clean tomorrow!)
but as they matured and I had to separate them I now have Maisie in a temporary hamster cage. To be honest.. in comparison to my gerbils they don't really dig much at all. From watching them you can tell they like to dig crater-like holes and sleep in them but they don't seem to tunnel as such like a gerbil. I would however recommend keeping at least 2 inches of substrate on the base of their cage so they have the option to dig, and definitely a gerbilarium would be the best option, if only to give them a bit more room.

Bernie Deluxe Hamster Cage

Things to include in the cage?

- Suitable Substrate & Bedding
- A dust bath
- A wheel 
(they love to run, and look absolutely ridiculous doing so with their comical tail bouncing around!)
- Things to chew 
(cardboard tubes won't last long, but they're great enrichment for them. I stick a toilet roll tube in every time we have one spare and it's always gone by the following morning) 
- Food/ Water 
(with water bottles make sure they're low enough for your duprasi to reach as they can't stand like gerbils do. Mine both have water bowls as well as bottles as they seem to prefer them, but each duprasi is different)
- A hide/home 
(I find large-ish wooden houses are great for them, the plastic hamster homes you can get are usually too small and mine always ignored them)
- Tunnels
(Plastic/Wood/Cardboard - they don't seem to dig their own but they love using pre made ones!)

Finally cage mates... Regardless of what you may read Duprasi do better alone. Having kept a mixed sex pair I can tell you they will need separating unless you want them to breed, they go into heat quite often and it's not ideal for the female to be constantly exposed to a mating situation. Same sex family pairs can sometimes work for people, but from experience every pair I've ever had at work have needed separating eventually due to fighting. Duprasi will be very happy alone, like Syrian hamsters, they just need lots of love and attention from their owners. 

Hugo & Maisie

I could ramble about these wonderful little critters for ever but this post is already turning into an essay (sorry!) so feel free to message or comment if you have any other questions and stay tuned for more updates about Maisie and Hugo further down the road.

To keep you entertained, the video on the below is of Maisie have a little run around on the sofa tonight. They may sit super still in your hands, but the minute you put them down be prepared for them to turn into Billy Whizz!

This one is of Hugo having his run, ending with him deciding to jump off the sofa in style... :')

Photo of the day!

Little Ralph the English Butterfly X Dwarf Lop at work, enjoying a play in the straw!