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Asian
Garden Dormouse Article
by Heather Carol TAXONOMY The Asian Garden Dormouse is related to the European Garden Dormouse (Eliomys quercinus quercinus). Depending on whether you prefer to lump species together or split them the Asian Garden Dormouse is either the sub-species Eliomys quercinus melanurus or a separate species Eliomys melanurus. GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE Asian Garden Dormice are found in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, and Algeria. HABITAT They are found in rocky areas, dry shrub-land and forests. Some in the Arabian desert regions have adapted to a non-arboreal habitat. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Asian Garden Dormice are about five inches in body length and their tail is roughly four to five inches in length. They are grey (sometimes tinged with brown) on their upper body and head and white on their stomach, legs and chin. They have a black stripe on either side of their head from their nose, around their eyes to the start of their ears. The ears are large in proportion to the body, and the eyes are large and dark. Their tail is light grey for the first couple of inches and is then entirely black. The colour of their tail is one way of distinguishing the Asian Garden Dormouse from the European Garden Dormouse as the European Garden Dormouse has a brown, black and white tail, whereas the Asian Garden Dormouse’s tail is mostly black with light grey towards the base of the tail. Other than this the European Garden Dormouse and the Asian Garden Dormouse look very similar to each other. REPRODUCTION In the wild the breeding season runs from March to May and August to October. The females come into season every 10 days during the breeding season. The male inserts a vaginal plug after mating. A litter of two to eight pups is born after a gestation period of 22 -28 days. Asian Garden Dormice often have only one or two litters per year. BEHAVIOUR IN THE WILD Asian Garden Dormice make a range of vocalisations ranging from whistles to barks, and grunts. Asian Garden Dormice are nocturnal. DIET IN THE WILD In the wild Asian Garden Dormice eat a range of seeds, nuts, fruits and insects .
My Asian Garden Dormice are offered a wide range of seeds, nuts, fruits and insects to try and replicate the variety that they would have foraging in the wild. Their basic mix is a mixture of the following: Softbill bird food. They are also given canned crickets, and a wide variety of fruit including grapes, melon, apple and banana. They are also given a mineral block which they nibble on and a salt lick. HOUSING IN CAPTIVITY My Asian Garden Dormice are kept in a warm room that never drops below 20 degrees C. I have used three types of enclosure to house my Asian Garden Dormice. These have been a 4ft high x 4ft long x 1ft wide mostly wood and mesh enclosure, 4ft high x 2ft wide x 2ft deep enclosures (part of a block of three enclosures – 2 are 4ft high x 2ft deep x 2ft wide and one is 18 inches wide x 2ft deep x 4ft high), and glass aquariums with wood and mesh lids. I have found that my Asian Garden Dormice have preferred enclosed spaces. This is possibly because these enclosed spaces may replicate the feeling of security that they would find in a tree canopy or rocky outcrop. One of my pairs of Asian Garden Dormice, Isis and Aten, were housed in one of the 4ft long x 4ft high x 1ft wide enclosures, but didn’t settle. This enclosure was fairly open, and I may in future box in the sides of this enclosure to see if any of the Asian Garden Dormice will settle in it. Isis and Aten were then placed in one of the 4ft high x 2ft deep x 2ft wide enclosures. These enclosures have melamine sides, a mesh back (5mm mesh), and a mesh and Perspex door, but Isis and Aten decided that they weren’t happy in this enclosure either. Isis and Aten are currently living in a 4ft glass tank (enclosed on the back and sides with a tank background and with a wood and mesh lid) and have settled brilliantly in this. I also have another pair of Asian Garden Dormice and a single male Asian Garden Dormouse who currently reside in glass tanks with wood and mesh lids. I also have another pair of Asian Garden Dormice who are living in one of the tall 4ft x2ft x 2ft enclosures. I don’t think that it is possible to suggest an enclosure that will suit all Asian Garden Dormice. My own animals have shown that some individuals will be comfortable in one type of enclosure, and others in another. However, it is important that Asian Garden Dormice are offered as much space as possible. Asian Garden Dormice do like lots of tank and enclosure
furnishings to keep them occupied, and mine seem to particularly love
anything that resembles a cave or tunnel. Asian Garden Dormice are also
excellent climbers. Furnishings for Asian Garden Dormouse enclosures can
include branches, logs, rocks, ceramic and wooden houses and log rolls.
My Asian Garden Dormice particularly love large cardboard tunnels, and
adore ceramic pots that they can use as tunnels to sit in and watch the
world go by. BEHAVIOUR IN CAPTIVITY My Asian Garden Dormice are animals to watch rather than to handle. I bought them as adults and they had not been tamed as youngsters. I am hoping that it will be possible to tame any pups that my Asian Garden Dormouse pairs have in the future by handling them from an early age. Asian Garden Dormice can deliver a nasty bite, and some of mine, particularly the males, will bark and lunge at my hand when I net them to give them a health check or so that I can clean their enclosure. Asian Garden Dormice can move very quickly and an escaped Asian Garden Dormouse is very difficult to catch (I have used a net or a live trap designed for catching Chipmunks and Squirrels). My Asian Garden Dormice are strictly nocturnal and are out and about late in the evening. They are messy eaters and dig through their bowls scattering the contents around so that they can pick out all of the best bits first. They are also messy creatures in other ways too. While they do tend to use a particular corner as their main toilet, they do mark branches and shelves, and other surfaces in their tanks or enclosures with urine and droppings. BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY My Asian Garden Dormice have not bred as yet, but I am keeping my fingers crossed for the patter of tiny Dormouse paws in 2009. LONGEVITY The average age that an Asian Garden Dormouse is likely to reach in captivity is about five or six years, but some have been known to live longer than this. Article By Ric McCarthy Other
names: About
me and how I came to keep them as pets: I am studying as a vet and I'm keeping a variety of pets for about 17 years now (cats, dogs, rabbits, dwarf bunnies, guinea pigs, dwarf hamsters, pygmy mice, spiny mice,...). Iīm 21, live in Europe and my mother tongue is not English, so there might be some mistakes in this text (spelling and grammar). Last spring I thought of getting sugar gliders or African Pygmy Dormice, I had collected tons of information about both, but could not decide so I visited a breeder to see his sugar gliders and found that I could not provide a big enough cage for them (without free run of the house they need 1m3 as a minimum he told me). The breeder told me that he knew a guy that wanted to get rid of his dormice but they were not African Pygmy but a species related to the European Garden Dormouse. I decided to take them and tried to get information about them, but didn't find very much useful. I went to the "breeder" 2 weeks later and found out that he didn't know anything about them. He took them out with gloves, they were behaving like crazy hissing and biting wildly - obviously they were not tame (if they wouldn't have looked that miserable I wouldn't have taken them - I really doubted my decision at that time). When I brought them home, I didn't see them at all for the next 2 weeks. Even if I sneaked into their room in the middle of the night they hid immediately. By the end of October I got them to trust me as much that they took treats through the bars. Now (January 01) one already sits on my hand and eats mealworms out of it, the others also donīt hide when I put my hand into their cage and take food out of it, but they wont sit on it. Positives of these dormice as pets:
Scent
glands and smell: I read that their average life span is 5 years. Do they
tolerate interaction?: Their
general personality, disposition and attitude: Are they
sweet and petable, or mischievous and playful?: Are they
hyper, or more sedate when being handled?: How destructive are they in their cage?: They don't chew or destroy things on purpose, but they are so messy that I have to change everything in their cage every 3 or 4 weeks (all the branches, baskets, tunnels, hammocks, shelves....). Their claws are no problem, they are not very long or sharp (they donīt need to be trimmed), but they have very sharp teeth and will bite if they are frightened. Their droppings are very messy, they can not be litter box trained and donīt seem to have a toilet spot, they even pee into their food. The cage they were in at the breeder was very dirty so it can be that they are used to the dirt. When I got them they also peed into their nest that it was really wet and dirty, they don't do that any more. I clean the area around their cage every morning because they also throw out a lot (I also clean their shelves and food bowls every day). Can they
be trained? Cage:
I donīt provide wheels for any of my animals, because I think it is not necessary if they are kept right (I think it's a "cheep" solution for owners who donīt want to spend money on a larger cage - it's not natural for any animal to run in a wheel!). If somebody want's to use a wheel it should be a save one, so that their tail and feet can not be caught in them. They need branches to climb, in a wire cage the also will enjoy climbing on the bars of the cage. Beside a real nest or sleeping box they need other places to hide, I use exotic bird baskets and large paper tubes. I provided ropes for climbing too, but they did not use them. They love hammocks I made from old blankets. They are not interested in the sand bath (with chinchilla sand) I put into their cage. Diet:
I provide them:
They are really crazy about their diet. Sometimes they will eat the whole bowl of seed mix and not touch the fruits, another time they only seem to eat the fruits and sometimes they wont eat anything else but live food. They don't need vaccinations or special vet care. When I got mine, the breeder didn't know their age, but I guess that they are adults, they donīt grew anymore after I got them, but it would be best to get them young they will bond easier when they are young.
What kind
of person should own these animals? Breeding:
During the last days of pregnancy the male has to leave the nest and is chased away if he wants to come near. My two females had one litter the end of November 00, Kimy had one baby and Banshee two. They hid there babies very good I didn't even know that they were pregnant. I could not even hear the babies, although during they cared for their babies the parents made strange noises (very high, they didn't sound like animals noises at all). Both mothers cared for there babies 2 weeks and neglected them than suddenly. I think they were stressed, because we had road workers in front of our house and it was noisy the whole day (I could do nothing to make the situation better, there was no room in the house that was quiet enough). Because they were so secretive about their young I did not realize that they didn't care for them any more and they died. I hope they will do better next time, Iīll keep you updated. |
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