# Doea anyone keep Jerboas?



## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

Wondering if many keep them and any good sources of info on the web? Also wondering how much they usually are? x


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## grizzlymonkyboy (Jan 15, 2011)

from what i have read these have not ben bred in captivity and most are usually wild caught. most people get thme form holland or germany as there is very little over here


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

i have just been offered some so trying to find some care sheets etc but theres nothing on the web ;o( Its the lesser 3 females 2 males. so as i cant find any info im not sure about them yet as hate not being prepared for such a fragile animal x


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## sizedoesn'tmatter (Jan 24, 2009)

What would you like to know? (I have 3, including a proven breeding pair) : victory:


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

everythign please ;o)
on the net theres nothing. I need to know whats the best set up i can make for them as they are currently in a 4ft viv and as there is 5 of them i think its not perfect size. also any pictures of your set ups or diet advice would be fab. everything i have read on the net says you cant breed them as they kill their babies but obv not true.


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## grizzlymonkyboy (Jan 15, 2011)

sizedoesn'tmatter said:


> What would you like to know? (I have 3, including a proven breeding pair) : victory:


wow thats amazing mate, i have been lookigna these for ages and so far never heard of someone breeding them sucessfully


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## sizedoesn'tmatter (Jan 24, 2009)

Sadly they haven't bred for me, but they bred for the previous owner. They had a litter of 2, one runt that died and one that I also have. I did have an unrelated female for him but sadly she passed away.

So let me think,
Space - as much as you can possibly give them, they will use it all! It should also be as high as possible as they can jump when startled potentially braining themselves on the ceiling!

Substrate - should be as deep as possible, less than 6 inches can cause problems for those long delicate legs! I use chinchilla sand.

Dust bath - well my whole enclosure is chinchilla sand which I strongly recommend but if you do use something else they'll need a sand bath at least.

Bedding - I use natural hay and they do very well. They absolutely love alfalfa and timothy too but they'll scoff more of that than they'll sleep in it!

Tunnels - Mine have a 4ft long hollow cork tunnel submerged in their substrate as their burrow and they nest within that.

Wheels - they will use a wheel but obviously it should be solid and big enough that they can 'stand up' to use it.

Mineral block - mine seem to use this so I always have one on hand

Diet - I use a very high quality canary mix plus millet. They ignore live food completely. I then offer a mix of fresh food, lambs lettuce is their fave and they love carrots too but I'm always sure to vary the fresh element of the diet - leaves and roots though, never fruit.

They are wonderful animals, very entertaining but as very delicate and anyone considering them really needs to think about whether they can give them enough space.
Oh and on another point lessers are generally considered solitary but I haven't found this to be the case.

Did I miss anything???


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## sizedoesn'tmatter (Jan 24, 2009)

Please excuse the old wheel, it was one that was attached to the housing they came in from their previous home. Everything is shiny and new now!
Anyway, here's something you don't see every day...


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

wow... and do you have water? and what size dimentions do you have and do they climb? x


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

http://www.zoochat.com/451/greater-egyptian-jerboa-terrarium-budapest-zoo-33819
Click on the image to view larger version


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## sizedoesn'tmatter (Jan 24, 2009)

They will jump on too of rocks, logs and so on but they don't 'climb' in the true sense of the word. At the moment mine have a 6'x2'x2' housing but they could easily use more space.


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

do you have any pictures for your set up? is the 6ft for a pair? allthough im getting 5 i really only want to keep a pair x


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

I Have a PDF from a German zoo that was written in the 1980's regarding breeding jerboas, they bred the lesser succesfully over many years and the key for them was hibination. they needed a 3 month hybination period of a steady 1c (they used stated collers in a basement as a fridge was constant. Then after breeding the male had to be seperated as he cause the death of babies and often females. 

I will see if i can fin the link for you. 

There are loads about at the moment as wholeslares have had loads on offer at good prices and thus shops are buying them. 

jay


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## Pouchie (Feb 9, 2008)

I havent tried with lessers but it is not as easy as that with greater jerboas, springhare and kangaroo rats to name a few. They also require salt & minerals but not easily dosed, perfect air conditions and 'very' deep tunnels. Might also be a tip for the j.jaculus but as i have said to the op via pm, I personally still feel it is futile to try and that the wild population has been depleted enough whilst we try to crack captive breeding these species. 

The fact is, some species NEED the wild and trying to recreate these conditions is impractical. Only adaptable species will breed well enough for private keepers to be able to keep a large enough number to captive breed 'without' encouraging wild trapping when the animal becomes popular and everybody wants one.

EDIT: I think that sounded as if I was trying to put the OP off getting these lessers - I am not, as she has been told they have bred before. 
That could justify trying with these particular ones and lets face it, someone already bought them before so rehoming jerboas is not going to directly affect the amount that perish trying to make it to pet shops.

My only point about the difficulty in breeding Jerboas is to help people who don't know this point of view so they can make an educated decision before buying animals which do not thrive in captivity.


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## Pouchie (Feb 9, 2008)

and just to be a bit more constructive :blush: I dug out an albeit 4 year old video, its not much good but here was one of my Greater Jerboa setups, it was 6ft x 3ft with deep sand up one end shallowing to the other and resin hides buried under heat lamps which they would dig themselves into during the day to keep up humidity inside their burrow/hide.

Greater Jerboas - jaculus orientalis - YouTube

plus pic below:


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

i was told mine were lessers but they look like yours...


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## Pouchie (Feb 9, 2008)

pm'd you


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## Matt Lusty (Aug 20, 2008)

I have bred Greaters on a number of occassions. They are not easy and also not easy to rear. The conditions and living space have to be right. As Pouchie has said, they need a minimum of 6'L enclosure and the deeper the better. The diet also changes in the breeding season. This includes fresh shoots and greens. I replicated this by spreading the seeds in the enclosure and misting 3 times a day to entice the shoots to grow. You will notice their behaviour changes over the next few weeks of doing this, breeding behaviour will probably not be observed. A few more weeks and young will suddenly appear out of the nesting chamber to view the world.


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## Pouchie (Feb 9, 2008)

I think feeding sprouting seeds is an important factor in breeding lots of african species! something that is usually totally overlooked. you can protect some of the seeds with fine wire netting aswell, to give them chance to grow lol

I tried the misting to simulate rainy season and at that time did get a pregnancy but lost the female because she tried to hibernate! 

Never witnessed a mating either - only the chasing around courtship behaviour


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

fantastic the care sheet would be fab thank you all for your help. In the end i decided I just couldnt not get them, so will need as much advice as possible. I got the 5 today. and although asked for a complete set up with them they just came in an empty vivarium. so while not ideal i have put them in with fleece liner for now till i can get them sand etc and tbh they need a new viv too. the one i got has got heat lamp and uv... do they need this? Im a bit confused tbh as theres such a lack of info ;o(
Anyways introducing the gang...
the have jumped on my hand a few times so quiet friendly. was bit worried about some of them as thought they were dead when i got them home so carefully put my hand in and oicked one up and it woke up with a start so they seem really deep sleepers!


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## PresqueVu (Jul 27, 2008)

Oh wow, I've never seen these in the flesh! Good luck with them, look forward to hearing updates :2thumb:


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## Pouchie (Feb 9, 2008)

They look in good condition.

Perhaps could use a chinchilla sand bath to clean their slightly greasy coats. I found it best to leave a sand bath in with jerboas all the time even though they lived on bird sand, the chinchilla dust is best for coat condition.

Yes, keep the heating as they have had it b4

Just try to sort out a larger enclosure. vivs don't always allow for a deep substrate - the floorpens in my vid were inexpensive to build and you can have the sand as deep as you like!

Hope you decide to keep them. Any info u need just ask and we'll try to help :2thumb:


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

wow crittery... love your site. funny enought i was looking at your site as i wanted some asian dormice first really but got offered these so couldnt say no!


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

checked on them this morning and they all woke up and came over to me... really weird who said they werent tame!lol they keep hopping on my hand ;o)


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## PresqueVu (Jul 27, 2008)

madsmum said:


> wow crittery... love your site. funny enought i was looking at your site as i wanted some asian dormice first really but got offered these so couldnt say no!


Thank you! Not got much information on jerboas though if you wanted to contribute a photo 

I'd love to get hold of some asian dormice too, will try again next year!

Glad they are settling in well. Do you have an idea of gender and ages?


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

sent you a pm hun as i can get the asian dormice. used to be into animals in a big way and have some amazing contacts, they bit pricy tho. They are what i fell in love with and got th jerboas as mate needed to rehome and i dont want them being unloved in a zoo or something x


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

oh and i have 5, 2 girls two boys and an unknown. it was 3 pairs but one got crushed by a rock. gonna try and have a look tonight and see what they might be hoping it will be obvious with the boys dangly bits cos couldnt find anything about sexing online x


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## Pouchie (Feb 9, 2008)

sexing is the same way as any rodent. jerboas are easy as far as rodents go


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

so will they look the same as my guinea pigs but on smaller scale? the I and the Y shape? x


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## Matt Lusty (Aug 20, 2008)

A wooden viv is not ideal as they will probably chew through it. Glass is much better and you can custom make it. It will be heavy with sand in it, so find a space that it will stay for their life. Chinchilla sand is the best for coat conditioning. If you are deciding to use a wooden viv, my advice to you would be to buy a glass tank the same size and as tall as possible. Construct the viv to stand on top of it with a hole drilled in the bottom and some tubing/piping big enough for the jerboas to fit in. The tighter the fit the better. They like to feel their bodies touching the edges.

Fill the glass tank with sand right to the base of the viv. You can then construct it like an ant farm if you like with tunnels on the glass face, so you can observe them underground. Bearing in mind they will not want the nesting quarters visible. As mentioned, they will benefit from a heatlamp. UV is not important, but can be used if you want. As said before, they deeper and the longer the enclosure is the better.


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

what size would you recommend for a pair? x


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## Matt Lusty (Aug 20, 2008)

No less than 6'W(long) x 3'D(wide) x 3'H.


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

omg for a pair? these 5 have lived their life in a 4ft and 20" high for least last 8 months...


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

cant sex them either. can see one hole were poops come out but nothing else. not sure if their fur (even tho its more like feathers lol) gets in the way or im blind


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## Matt Lusty (Aug 20, 2008)

They have been very overcrowded for the last 8 months then :gasp: The males testes are very visible


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

its just looks like little tufts of fluff to me... they so tiny... smaller than hansters so im struggling


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

i read a lab report on breeding them and it said smaller housing encourages breeding as too big a space makes them nervous. whats everyones thoughts on this? x
http://cshprotocols.cshlp.org/content/2011/12/pdb.prot066712.abstract


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## Matt Lusty (Aug 20, 2008)

Mine were greaters (_Jaculus orientalis_). They are a fair bit bigger than lessers


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

Excluding the legs these are smaller than hamsters :lol2:


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

Still need to add decorations and toys to their viv but getting their slowly... were the weirdest thing ever to see them giving one another a sand bath when they first went in the viv...


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## sizedoesn'tmatter (Jan 24, 2009)

madsmum said:


> i read a lab report on breeding them and it said smaller housing encourages breeding as too big a space makes them nervous. whats everyones thoughts on this? x
> Husbandry and Breeding of the Lesser Egyptian Jerboa, Jaculus jaculus


Mine have never exhibited nervous behaviour in large enclosures, give them as mich space as possible I say! They will certainly use it! :2thumb:


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## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)




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