# Asphalt the field vole.



## morning-star (Jan 1, 2010)

This is Asphalt when we first got her: 










Asphalt is a common field vole, we found her on a busy stretch of road running across it before jumping on my foot and then scurrying away again. Surprised at her willingness to run up to people and her disregard for the road, I had my boyfriend chase her up the road, she seemed pretty oblivious, darting back across the road and becoming inches away from being squished. My boyfriend picked her up, she didn't really fight nor bite but happily went into the make shift paper box we made for her. Upon getting her home we decided that she couldn't be put back into the wild due to her tame nature and carelessness.

We checked to see if it's legal to keep her, which it is, as they are common and are considered no more than pests. 

Six months on and she's still going strong, even drinking from a water bottle and eating mealworm's out of your hands. 

Later this year I plan on catching a few more in the area we found her and hope to start up a little breeding programme, and hopefully in 3-6 generations I may sell some on, if there is the interest. 

questions are welcome! 

photos taken today: 

her home:






















































sorry they are not the best photos but she's quick and wont sit still!

: victory:


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## samurai (Sep 9, 2009)

Very cute, are you allowed to sell native animals though? I thought you weren't?


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## morning-star (Jan 1, 2010)

samurai said:


> Very cute, are you allowed to sell native animals though? I thought you weren't?


You can if it's been bred so many generations, I think it's 6 but I'll have to look into it. (So it's great grandchildren x 6 would be legal to sell)


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## sammy1969 (Jul 21, 2007)

My cat regularly brings me these completely unharmed as we have a field opposite us I usually keep them for the day and release them again when he is not around after making sure they are fully ok and have had a meal and a drink I think they are great and all of the ones he has caught have been really tame too


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

that's a cute little critter! :flrt:


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## miss_ferret (Feb 4, 2010)

i want one!


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## morning-star (Jan 1, 2010)

so far everyone has said any they have caught have been fairly tame (though skittish) :2thumb:


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Ive rescued lots of these from the cats at work, they never try and bite and seem to know that you want to help them as they run and sit by your foot away from the cat, pretty little critters:flrt:


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## morning-star (Jan 1, 2010)

she nibbles at you a bit when she's had enough and wants to go back home but she's never really had ago at anyone or broken the skin. :2thumb:

when I do find more I plan to set up like a little colony in either a fish tank or home made perspex tank and see what happens, though I think I'll leave asphalt to her own as I don't know how she'd react with being alone for so long now.


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

Nice little vole but its part of our wildlife. Should release in the summer with some food near. Personally i wouldnt breed from something that had been caught from the wild. Im sure people have been breeding voles long enough to consider them "domesticated" which you could buy to breed from.

It would be like me keeping every hedgehog i find and breeding them or every baby bird.


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## morning-star (Jan 1, 2010)

Mischievous_Mark said:


> Nice little vole but its part of our wildlife. Should release in the summer with some food near. Personally i wouldnt breed from something that had been caught from the wild. Im sure people have been breeding voles long enough to consider them "domesticated" which you could buy to breed from.
> 
> It would be like me keeping every hedgehog i find and breeding them or every baby bird.



Find me a breeder of 'domesticated' FIELD VOLES?! They are VERY hard to come by. 

This animal is far to tame to be re-introduced into the wild. She'd either get squished by a car or run up to a fox or something silly. 

All wild birds are a protected species so it wouldn't be legal to breed/keep them..... :whistling2:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Just because the vole didn't bite you doesn't mean to say it's tame.

Have you rescued many wild animals to know what will and what won't release?? Just curious!


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

She will get her wild instinct back. 

Ive had mice escape and whwn caught be wild as owt doesnt take them long.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

The red squirrels I handreared, which were totally tame with us are totally wild now - remove human companionship and they will revert.


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

feorag said:


> The red squirrels I handreared, which were totally tame with us are totally wild now - remove human companionship and they will revert.


Them were some cute squirrels, theres a few grey where i walk the dog im almost certian one threw something at me the other week litte asbo squirrels lol


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## morning-star (Jan 1, 2010)

feorag said:


> Just because the vole didn't bite you doesn't mean to say it's tame.
> 
> Have you rescued many wild animals to know what will and what won't release?? Just curious!



It ran up and sat on my foot when we first came across it. (very wild behaviour!) it'll probably do the same to other people (or animals) who would be a lot less caring and would probably try and kill the 'pest'.

We have also had her for a good six months now and it hasn't done her any harm. 

The only other thing we have rescued was a baby robin, which fell out out of it's nest with three other chicks who got mauled by a cat (one we put down because it had nice big bite holes in its body), which wasn't going to leave it alone so we took it in. We took it into the vet ASAP the next day (as it was a late Sunday evening when we found it) but sadly it had to be put down, as the stress had got to it.


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## Jazzy B Bunny (Jun 21, 2007)

Do you agree with keeping WC reptiles? I personally think this is wrong. She doesn't belong in a box. Put her back where she belongs.


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## morning-star (Jan 1, 2010)

Jazzy B Bunny said:


> Do you agree with keeping WC reptiles? I personally think this is wrong. She doesn't belong in a box. Put her back where she belongs.


ALL captive bred animals come from wild caught at some point, including reptiles. Again if anyone knows anyone who breeds captive bred field voles, point me in their direction as I would be very interested in obtaining some. Since there are so very few breeders, someone has to start somewhere. Did you complain about the first reptile keepers who caught wild snakes, and then bred them to end up with the captive bred-lines we have today? 

You wouldn't have ANY pet's if their ancestors where not caught from the wild. 

It's hardly like she's suffering, her needs are met, she's been treated for parasites etc and will live a lot longer life with me than in the wild. it's also not like it's an endangered species.


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## Jazzy B Bunny (Jun 21, 2007)

But why do you want to breed a 'pest' species? You'll have to keep them all until the 6th generation like somebody said.


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## morning-star (Jan 1, 2010)

Jazzy B Bunny said:


> But why do you want to breed a 'pest' species? You'll have to keep them all until the 6th generation like somebody said.


I was the one that said keep them to the 6th generation...

I mostly want to keep them for my interest, as they seem to have a sweet natured temperament and are different from other rodents but I have also had people who spoke to me saying they would love to own a few etc etc. 

Same as why people keep things like harvest mice etc when they are also considered pests?


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

Jazzy B Bunny said:


> But why do you want to breed a 'pest' species? You'll have to keep them all until the 6th generation like somebody said.




It was Heather/Morning Star that said. 

If im right in think field voles hold a small teritory and will fight with other voles, females can breed at a young age and average litter is around 6-7? Thats a lot of house for voles until you get to 6th gen before you can sell them as pets ?


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## morning-star (Jan 1, 2010)

Mischievous_Mark said:


> It was Heather/Morning Star that said.
> 
> If im right in think field voles hold a small teritory and will fight with other voles, females can breed at a young age and average litter is around 6-7? Thats a lot of house for voles until you get to 6th gen before you can sell them as pets ?


Far as I'm aware it's mostly a male thing (the territory) and females should bond together better than males. some of it might be down to trial and error, really same with keeping any species, which people know a limited amount about. 
I'd consider culling litters down but really it's going to be no worse than how many mice you should keep for show breeding.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

morning-star said:


> Same as why people keep things like harvest mice etc when they are also considered pests?


Harvest Mice are not considered pests at all - I don't think they are still classed as an endangered species now, but they were and the captive breeding programme was set up to help numbers. 

volunteers took on the breeding of them and the resultant young were released to try and give numbers a 'boost' to stop them becoming extinct.

This was very successful and I believe they are now classed as 'threatened' (haven't got time to check), but that is due to people breeding them to increase the numbers.


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## Jazzy B Bunny (Jun 21, 2007)

morning-star said:


> I'd consider culling litters down but really it's going to be no worse than how many mice you should keep for show breeding.


So you'd cull the babies until you get to the 6th gen? WHY?! :bash: What if nobody wants to buy the babies? Will you just kill them?


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## em_40 (Sep 29, 2010)

Where does it say that they _have _to be 6th generation to sell them? To my knowledge you can't collect and sell, and you can't sell the imediate offspring (because they could have already been pregnant and so they were wild offspring) but as long the parents are captive bred and you keep records of the births to prove that they were born in captivity to captive born parents they are sellable?
Can't find the information anymore though.


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## sarahc (Jan 7, 2009)

I've never heard of the 6th generation thing either.They are always easy to pick up even though they are wild.If you lift a lid or a piece of plastic etc in a field and there is one there you can just lift them up.There is no shortage of info on field voles.They used to be readily available in both the natural agouti and albino form but they are only worth keeping for interest not as something targeted at pet keepers.They are difficult to keep in groups as they are agressive.You can try same sex related pairs but it often doesnt work.


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

Try Exotic Keepers Forum, im sure someone there will be able to help you find some captive bred voles.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

My understanding has always been that you cannot sell the offspring of protected species - not animals that aren't considered 'threatened' or protected by law.


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## em_40 (Sep 29, 2010)

I was basing what I said on what I know it to be with grass snakes to be honest, I couldn't find the information again to check what status voles were under. Grass snakes aren't endangered though and are only protected against harm and trade/sale, I thought it was the same for all native wildlife, that that was the minimum protection.


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## Gemificus (Jan 26, 2007)

My cat brought one of these home once and no1 realized until we saw it run across the living room. we looked for it but it was gone every now and again you would see it sat on a shelf or running from one side of the room to the other i can't remember how long it was there before we finally manage to get it it was a long time tho. 

it used to come upto you when you were watching TV and perch itself on the sofa next too u at times it would even steal any snacks you had round and just sit right there and eat the the cheeky lil thing, it got to a point where it did seem pretty tame and once we were able to catch it i considered keeping it. but i let it go and made sure it had some food close by but as soon as it saw outside it knew exactly where it was and scurried home.

it may be a little too late for asphalt if you feel she is better suited to domestic living but personally i wouldn't purposely go out looking for them in the wild to capture and breed that seems rather cruel.


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## Ovion (Nov 3, 2010)

It isn't legal catch or sell any _protected wildlife_ within the UK. (There are exceptions for consveration efforts and such, but a license is needed)

Water Voles are protected, Field Voles are not, and as far as I can tell these are fine to keep / breed.

I may not have found it yet, but from my research so far there isn't actually _any_ legislation saying you can't just sell non-protected wild-caught small animals. If anyone can point me to any act or legislation that says otherwise that would be appreciated, but after reading through the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 this morning it only specifies you cannot keep, breed or sell animals that are protected under Schedule 5 of the WCA.

The 6th generation thing was something we were told in relation to grass snakes? I think, and we simply hadn't checked it and probably got it confused with general keeping.

As to the Culling young thing: This means that you reduce the litter size to 4-8 young to reduce stress on the mother and encourage the growth of large healthy offspring.

It's a fairly standard procedure with breeding mice, where you often cut down the litter size from 10-20 to 4-8 that's how you get good strong mice rather than a large group of small mice and a thoroughly exhausted mother.

We'll look at the exotic keepers forum and see what we can find out.
_
Furthermore on a personal note to those who've said we shouldn't be keeping her, when everyones animals were initially wild caught and no one would have any pets, domesticated or otherwise, on top of that everyone here keeps different pets to the 'norm', so why when someone shows something interesting and different do you feel it's OK to be rude enough to go 'no, release your loved pet into the wild, to get eaten, diseased or hit by a car'. Maybe if it was protected, then pointing that out would be OK, but otherwise it's just not really acceptable.

If you really feel keeping these animals is bad or cruel and you don't release your own precious pets its simply seems hypocritical_.


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

Because those animals have been domesticated for 100s of years and the majority in the pet trade are captive bred for many generations. They havent just appeared over the past few months.

Iay start keeping the hedgehogs i find or the fledings i find dazed on the floor simply because they are cute and keep them as a pet.

I bred Harvestice to release into areas around me, i didnt keep them as pets but wildlife and thats what they always stayed as. The tanks them were in were large enough for groups and high enough for them to make natural nest, kept as natural as possible. I wanted some more when my last lot were released to keep as pets but i havent gone catching the ones in the wild.


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## Ovion (Nov 3, 2010)

Actually reports say that a lot of animals in the pet trade, especially exotics are wild caught as the overheads are significantly cheaper for the seller, and several of the more esoteric morphs of snake are being caught wild then bred in captivity due to the rarity of them.

But in the end, Asphalts lived a LOT longer than anyone initially said she would, and is still going strong, there used to be pet voles around and the only way you're going to get them now is to start again.


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

Which is why you research where you buy from. There is a pet shop near me that i would never buy from because i know where there animals come from.

You can attempt to jusitfy the reasons why you do what you want doesnt make it right, wildlife is wildlife and should exsist as such not stuck in a tiny cage.


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## Chris18 (Mar 22, 2009)

Mischievous_Mark said:


> Because those animals have been domesticated for 100s of years and the majority in the pet trade are captive bred for many generations. They havent just appeared over the past few months.


Personally I'd rather more species appeared now than 100s of years ago. Animal Welfare is so much better now and we understand a lot more about animals than we did when domestication began so now is as good a time as any to start domesticating species. As long as it's done in a humane way then I have no problem with it as long as the wild populations are stable.


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

In which case im off to catch a Dolphin and stick it in the pool my step grandad has =]

Good Night


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## Ovion (Nov 3, 2010)

Mischievous_Mark said:


> Which is why you research where you buy from. There is a pet shop near me that i would never buy from because i know where there animals come from.
> 
> You can attempt to jusitfy the reasons why you do what you want doesnt make it right, wildlife is wildlife and should exsist as such not stuck in a tiny cage.


So buying wildcaught animals is wrong, keeping wild caught animals is wrong, but without introduction of new wild caught stock there wouldn't be half as many varieties of snake, let alone anything else new in the last 100 years by your attitude.

We researched what habitat is needed, we got specific food to cater to its diet, and provided it with a large box with lots of substrate so it could run and burrow.



Mischievous_Mark said:


> In which case im off to catch a Dolphin and stick it in the pool my step grandad has =]
> 
> Good Night


See, we've been sensible, we resereached it, we checked it was OK and made sure we could keep it correctly after we saved it from traffic.

A 3 second google search tells me that keeping of Dolphins is heavily regulated, unlike a common animal that it is entirely legal to keep.

Instead of just trying to cause problems for no apparent reason, how about if you've got nothing nice to say you don't say anything at all.

You _really_ don't have any kind of high horse when it comes to morality, being you're here saying caring for these animals is wrong, but you've started a whole thread about having your dog maul them to death is right.


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

And feeding live baby mice is fine? We can all dig up previous post/threads. 

My little creature was a pest, one bite is hardly classed as a maul is it haha although what that has to do with capturing wild animals and sticking them in a cage is beyound me. 

Now i really must go, ive still to leave food out for the hedgehogs and the occasional fox.

Bye.

Edit to add: If you dont like it, why keep viewing it why dont you report it, contact admin to delete since i closed it anyway because i couldnt be arsed with it turning into a big load of rubbish...


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## Gemificus (Jan 26, 2007)

@Ovion

I think alot of the opinions in the thread are less about your rescued field vole who i will admit is a little cutie and more about the statement made in the original post about going to purposely find and capture field voles from the wild in which to breed them for personal and possibly financial gain.

yes the idea of domesticate field voles may be a nice idea to keen breeders and collectors. 

but going out and capturing them from their wild homes is what people are not liking, you could go out and capture yourself a male to breed with your captured females and that male could be gathering food for the young that it's female is feeding.


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

My dad found a vole saturday while i was at a show, he phoned be up suprised at home tame it was and that he had put it in a box because he was unsure what to do with it. Told him to take it up the road to the field and release back where it should be =]


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