# African Pygmy Dormice



## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

Does anyone here keep African Pygmy dormice?
I'd love to get a pair but can't find much on them, and no stockists.
Doesn't surprise me really but I thought maybe someone on here would be keeping them??
Thanks!


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

I have two. There are a few breeders on here who advertise in the classifieds and I saw a few come up for rehoming when I was looking for mine.

When I decided that I wanted some I just kept watching classifieds.

They are nocturnal and only come out at night and can be very skittish, they're not really pets for handling as they are very small and very fast, but I enjoy watching mine for a while before I go to bed at night.


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

There should be a few stockist dotted around. 

There is a shop near us that have had some long term, likely from "simons" reptiles or rodents or whatever it is called. They are trying to charge £75 each so unlikely to sell.

I have will likely be buying a few from a shop in Hertfordshire when i visit this Christmas. There are a few selling in the South West, but when I can get them for £15 each from a shop I will be driving past anyway, or £25 each a couple of hours drive from here once you look at the price x say a group of 3-4 the wait is worth it.

Just a 3 sec google search shows LIVESTOCK saying they can order animals in. Have you tried them?


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## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

feorag said:


> I have two. There are a few breeders on here who advertise in the classifieds and I saw a few come up for rehoming when I was looking for mine.
> 
> When I decided that I wanted some I just kept watching classifieds.
> 
> They are nocturnal and only come out at night and can be very skittish, they're not really pets for handling as they are very small and very fast, but I enjoy watching mine for a while before I go to bed at night.


I shall keep an eye out then or try and find them and get on the list for babies that come up.
I'm not looking for something I can handle just something to watch pottering around getting up to mischief.



Kare said:


> There should be a few stockist dotted around.
> 
> There is a shop near us that have had some long term, likely from "simons" reptiles or rodents or whatever it is called. They are trying to charge £75 each so unlikely to sell.
> 
> ...



I didn't really want to get them from a stockist, I'd rather get them from a breeder who can tell me about the specific animals/parents etc, age and behavior. Things like that, rather than unknown animals from a stockist, but I shall try them and see if they can get juvies, as I'd probably go for that.


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

polaris2582 said:


> I didn't really want to get them from a stockist, I'd rather get them from a breeder who can tell me about the specific animals/parents etc, age and behavior. Things like that, rather than unknown animals from a stockist, but I shall try them and see if they can get juvies, as I'd probably go for that.


I thought on this as I have been wanting some for a few years now, after research I came to the realisation this is not a species where tbh I think it makes much difference.

They are hard to sex, so many, if not erring on the side of most, have at sometime in the line been bred from sibling matings.

Not to mention the fact that so few came into the country...or even into the pet trade at all over the years that there is little variation on genetics anyways.

Then they are not a handling animal, so it's not even like you will get a more social animal from a breeder.


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## connor 1213 (Apr 6, 2009)

I will have a look around on Saturday when I'm in the shop if you want, we had a local breeder asking us a few months back if we would be interested in stocking them


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## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

connor 1213 said:


> I will have a look around on Saturday when I'm in the shop if you want, we had a local breeder asking us a few months back if we would be interested in stocking them


I've asked BishopBriggs store if they can get some in for me, so they are looking, but that would be great too. i'm not 100% on them yet but pretty interested in getting some.


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## Pouchie (Feb 9, 2008)

Trouble is with APD, as with all exotics, they do rise and fall in popularity
and there are either hoards of them around or they suffer a swift decline because they breed prolifically and breeders have to stop because they cannot rehome the young.

They would die out altogether if it weren't for the dedicated keepers who continue with them whilst their popularity is low.


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## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

Yeah its good to know that, I love the little things but wondering if I kept a pair how many young they usually produce? I'd like to have one litter to keep, andd give a couple to my young sister. 




Pouchie said:


> Trouble is with APD, as with all exotics, they do rise and fall in popularity
> and there are either hoards of them around or they suffer a swift decline because they breed prolifically and breeders have to stop because they cannot rehome the young.
> 
> They would die out altogether if it weren't for the dedicated keepers who continue with them whilst their popularity is low.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

If you can successfully sex them (it is pretty difficult) then you could buy a pair, breed them once and then separate them and give the mother and the females to your sister and keep the father and the males or vice versa, but you really need to do some research about them and how to keep them before you even buy them never mind embark on breeding them.


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## Pouchie (Feb 9, 2008)

I agree with Feorag, its always a good idea to keep something before considering breeding - they won't breed at all if you don't first learn how to meet their needs. For a rodent, they are one of the trickiest as they have a demanding and rather expensive diet plus need heating, climbing apparatus and multiple hides.

They are also difficult to clean, espcially if you have wood involved as their poop sticks like glue and compared with other rodents, they do smell somewhat.

Perhaps start with two females and look to add a male if you fancy breeding?

The heating is important to get right as they have a tendency to go into torpor if not warm enough. Ive had first hand experience of this twice over the years, one with heating that I eventually put down to lack of honey/glucose/tree sap substitute in the diet and one with a failed heatmat that I had not checked was working properly.

Definitely worth learning plenty before breeding, to avoid disappointment.


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## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

feorag said:


> If you can successfully sex them (it is pretty difficult) then you could buy a pair, breed them once and then separate them and give the mother and the females to your sister and keep the father and the males or vice versa, but you really need to do some research about them and how to keep them before you even buy them never mind embark on breeding them.


I would never take on any animal without doin g the appropriate research, but who better to ask than the people who keep these animals? I was simply asking a few questions before hunting down the caresheets and sticking in.



Pouchie said:


> I agree with Feorag, its always a good idea to keep something before considering breeding - they won't breed at all if you don't first learn how to meet their needs. For a rodent, they are one of the trickiest as they have a demanding and rather expensive diet plus need heating, climbing apparatus and multiple hides.
> 
> They are also difficult to clean, espcially if you have wood involved as their poop sticks like glue and compared with other rodents, they do smell somewhat.
> 
> ...



I simply wanted to know that should I happen to end up with two males by accident what would happen, and if I did want to breed them was it massively difficult, I don't plan on actually getting any for at least a month, and during that month doing the appropriate research. :lol2:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Just handing out friendly advice, not telling you *can't *do it, just advising to crawl before you walk, as that wasn't obvious from your posts.


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

They look great on the internet and in pictures but are not so great in real life.
As the others have said they are nocturnal,surprisingly noisy and smelly.I put the smell down to the livefood that I was feeding them.Then all of a sudden a fight would break out and I would be left with one injured mouse or some grisly remains.
I gave up on them for these reasons.


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## Pouchie (Feb 9, 2008)

Ditto. I apologise if my post sounds condecending, but hopefully it had some useful info in it anyway!


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

I've got mine on Megazorb and to be totally honest I find the smell of the Megazorb itself is worse than them. Mine are in my living room and I don't smell anything until I open the exo door.

It's right about the sticky poo though! When I do my big clean out, I take everything out and soak it - it's the only way to remove the poo!


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## Jaina_Organasolo (Jan 7, 2012)

Only just found this so apologies if its late. I've got 3 male APD and they are lovely. I struggled to get any that were confirmed same sex as I don't want to breed. We had a wobble when one got particularly chubby and I separated 'her' off for a couple of months to be sure - turned out to be a fat lad. lol. It took me a few months to source some and unsurprisingly they are the result of pet shop purchases breeding so they are probably related. 

The poop is a sticky nightmare...lol. I don't find them all that smelly (I keep them on Hemcore) - I have found though that cleaning thoroughly upsets them. They tend to fight if cleaned too well so I just clean every other week and not too deeply. 

The 3 lads get on fine. They argue occasionally and at one point they picked on the smallest, making bald patches and they did bite him once. Im pretty sure it was due to him being so much smaller than the other 2. The lady I purchased from said they were aged 5-11 months. He was tiny. They get on well now and sleep in one giant meecy ball. So males can be fine together.

Temperature wise I keep them at 22degrees day, 20 degrees at night. They have a CHE on a thermostat. My house gets cold and I would hate to loose them.

The only issues I have are that they are getting chubby and I have no idea if they are fat or supposed to be like that. They won't use a wheel and seem unable to catch crickets or locusts. I put it down to their previous owner who had them with no wheel and they were fed seeds and cheese. *roll eyes* They won't even eat bloomin cheese. 


_Posted from Reptileforums.co.uk App for Android_


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## joemeatsix (Aug 4, 2012)

EXOTIC MICE website i used when i was looking for a beardie that im not getting anymore, you can buy online and they deliver, i dont know whether its free but it shouldnt be too much depending on where you live, theres hundreds of animals on there though


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## Jaina_Organasolo (Jan 7, 2012)

I wouldn't pay £50 a Dormouse!! That's robbery!

I paid £20 a Dormouse (so £60 for my 3 although I had to travel miles) Wocester Reptiles Sell them £20 each and another Petshop does them £30 each.


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## leponi (Aug 20, 2010)

polaris2582 said:


> Does anyone here keep African Pygmy dormice?
> I'd love to get a pair but can't find much on them, and no stockists.
> Doesn't surprise me really but I thought maybe someone on here would be keeping them??
> Thanks!


hey i have a breeding colony with 6 adults we just had 2 weaners and now 2 pinkies


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