# Any body else keep Mara (Patagonian cavy)?



## Nik and Nel's (May 30, 2011)

As title say!?

Pic of our pair Narla and Zeus


----------



## Disgruntled (Dec 5, 2010)

Cute. Viper and Vine have some I think. £800 a pair :gasp::gasp:


----------



## philipniceguy (Mar 31, 2008)

Disgruntled said:


> Cute. Viper and Vine have some I think. £800 a pair :gasp::gasp:


Viper and vine have loads problem is ALL are WAY WAY over priced :bash:


----------



## Disgruntled (Dec 5, 2010)

Yes, they have a lot of stuff there, I wonder how much they actually shift. Perhaps they don't want to sell any of their livestock and are only pretending to offer it to the public! :Na_Na_Na_Na:


----------



## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

I used to look after a few in the zoo I worked at......they were the first on my section to breed aswell. I was very proud! The babies are well cute!

They have tons of 'em free ranging at Whipsnade too.


----------



## x Sarah x (Nov 16, 2007)

I wish :flrt:

Like a dream animal to me, are they tame? if not can they be tamed if you have them from young?


----------



## Tuatara (Feb 1, 2009)

had them at the college i went too, mustve been about 20 of them, theyre nice things to watch interact with eachother very cool animals


----------



## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

x Sarah x said:


> are they tame? if not can they be tamed if you have them from young?


Ours weren't. Used to take a whole load of clever trickery to round 'em up at night!


----------



## x Sarah x (Nov 16, 2007)

mrcriss said:


> Ours weren't. Used to take a whole load of clever trickery to round 'em up at night!


Haha! wouldn't expect them to be at Zoo's, seen them free ranging before in other animals enclosures, you can see they wouldn't get much interaction particularly on such a large scale.

But if the OP keeps just a pair, and at home i guess they'd get a lot more individual time spent on them so its possible they could be pretty tame.


----------



## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

x Sarah x said:


> Haha! wouldn't expect them to be at Zoo's, seen them free ranging before in other animals enclosures, you can see they wouldn't get much interaction particularly on such a large scale.
> 
> But if the OP keeps just a pair, and at home i guess they'd get a lot more individual time spent on them so its possible they could be pretty tame.


Having said that, I had many animals in my care that were extremely tame, such as binturong, meerkats, otters and bat-eared foxes. I could play with all of those, and pick up some.


----------



## x Sarah x (Nov 16, 2007)

Yeah i notice a lot of zoo animals appear pretty tame, its just the herd animals understandably that always seem to keep to themselves.


----------



## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

x Sarah x said:


> Yeah i notice a lot of zoo animals appear pretty tame, its just the herd animals understandably that always seem to keep to themselves.


.....and the big cats! There were 2 persian leopards that really wanted to kill me!


----------



## 1930sam (Sep 12, 2011)

Yeah, personally some of the loudest/scariest moments of my life have been in the indoor/service corridors of tiger enclosures. :lol2:


----------



## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

1930sam said:


> Yeah, personally some of the loudest/scariest moments of my life have been in the indoor/service corridors of tiger enclosures. :lol2:


Hahahahaha.....

I remember once I was picking up bones in the siberian tiger enclosure. It was a bloody big area, and you couldn't see the house from the other end where we were. All of a sudden, we heard banging and the sound of the slide door being pulled back. I'm unashamed to say that I possibly poo'd myself, screamed and started to climb the very tall fence. 

The zoo punters had a great laugh when no tigers appeared!


----------



## 1930sam (Sep 12, 2011)

HAHA! 
Better to look like a fool than being mauled by a huge carnivore though.


----------



## Nik and Nel's (May 30, 2011)

Disgruntled said:


> Cute. Viper and Vine have some I think. £800 a pair :gasp::gasp:


Our pair werent cheap lol!! 
I guess there is still only a few around other than in zoos e.t.c. hence still quite dear.
Well worth every penny though they have made a great addition to our family, and after only a week have tamed down lovely which considering they werent hand reared Im quite shocked!
They are even chilled out with the dog, the cats started stalking them . . . . that was until they stood up and the cats realized they were twice the size of them!! :Na_Na_Na_Na:

mrcriss - Is there any chance you would be able to PM me with any details of how often and with what you wormed them when you worked with them,:notworthy: our local vet isnt prepared to suggest anything !


----------



## 1930sam (Sep 12, 2011)

Nik and Nel's said:


> Our local vet isnt prepared to suggest anything !


Sounds like a wise vet.


----------



## Nik and Nel's (May 30, 2011)

1930sam said:


> Sounds like a wise vet.


Indeed, I completly agree. Im waiting to hear back from suffolk park too.


----------



## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Couldn't tell you I'm afraid. This was back in the late 90's, so I don't remember. The zoo's vet would've dealt with all that. I was more about picking up crap and feeding them. As I had such a large section, I didn't have the time to go round with vets really


----------



## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

But I remember we had to be careful of birds of prey and crows around them


----------



## 5plusmany (Sep 29, 2011)

I've been offered a pair of these recently for £650. Was very tempted but unfortunately as I do dog boarding at home, I would really be restricting the market by adding yet another animal my boarders MUST NOT KILL :lol2:
I know someone who has a small group and they're all very tame take food from your hand, allow stroking etc.


----------



## 1930sam (Sep 12, 2011)

And another species makes it onto the 'Things Sam Wants But Can't Afford' list...


----------



## 5plusmany (Sep 29, 2011)

1930sam said:


> And another species makes it onto the 'Things Sam Wants But Can't Afford' list...


I didn't think the price was too bad actually..although my sister did burst my bubble a bit by saying "HOW MUCH?! For overgrown guinea pigs?!" :lol2:


----------



## 1930sam (Sep 12, 2011)

5plusmany said:


> I didn't think the price was too bad actually..although my sister did burst my bubble a bit by saying "HOW MUCH?! For overgrown guinea pigs?!" :lol2:


The main problem is I am incredibly poor! maybe in a year or two my finances will be more erm extant...

Haha! Im sure we have all had the 'HOW MUCH?!' conversation with one of our loved ones.


----------



## Ayra (Mar 3, 2011)

I've never owned them but I used to work for a guy who had about 8 of them that I got to work with :2thumb:


----------



## Jack W (Feb 9, 2009)

mrcriss said:


> I used to look after a few in the zoo I worked at......they were the first on my section to breed aswell. I was very proud! The babies are well cute!
> 
> They have tons of 'em free ranging at Whipsnade too.


I thought I recognised them, yet didn't remember their name, I think I can remember them at Whipsnade now. I haven't been in a while, I might pop down there this summer.


----------



## Nik and Nel's (May 30, 2011)

mrcriss said:


> Couldn't tell you I'm afraid. This was back in the late 90's, so I don't remember. The zoo's vet would've dealt with all that. I was more about picking up crap and feeding them. As I had such a large section, I didn't have the time to go round with vets really


Ok thanks anyway


----------



## stubeanz (Mar 28, 2007)

A friend of mine keeps a large group that are incredibly tame... to the point they will be picked up, litter trained and will walk on leads! crazyness! they are beautifully gentle animals though:2thumb:


----------



## charlie22 (Feb 19, 2012)

I have a few pairs of mara, i keep them in a large grass and wooded paddock, they are not tame but will not leave you alone if you have a food bucket! Hand reared mara are brilliant and go for walks on leads happily. I worm them every autumn and spring and worm the babies once they have been weaned for a couple of weeks, hope this helps.


----------



## Nik and Nel (Jan 25, 2010)

What time of year do yours have babies? I was told they are a little strange and have them in cooler months ?


----------



## charlie22 (Feb 19, 2012)

Every 110 - 130 days they have babies, always best when it falls on spring/summer months, but do just as well in december/january.


----------



## Gazfather (Nov 24, 2010)

Does anybody have a care sheet for Mara at all? Something I'd like to consider.


----------

