Prairie dog
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Suborder: Sciuromorpha
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Cynomys
Species:
Cynomys ludovicianus
Species:
Cynomys ludovicianus
Before I talk about how to keep a prairie dog as a pet, first I think it's important for you to know how they live in their natural habitat. After knowing this, you will surely be able to provide the most similar conditions possible to their natural home.
The prairie dog is a rodent that inhabits the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. It's a grayish brown rodent with rounded lines, round heads, fluffy tails and short paws.
The prairie dog is many times confused with a squirrel. They belong to the same family but not to the same genre. The similarity is bigger when they are younger, because in adults the prairie dog has a larger size. There are many species of prairie dogs, although only two are relatively common because the other ones are in danger in their natural habitats.
Their names come from the fact that they have similar vocalizations to the barking of a dog and because they are commonly found in the North American prairies.
There are 5 species within the Cynomys genre:
Cynomys ludovicianus – One of the most popular species. It has a dotted tail in black.
Cynomys leucurus – Another common species in the world of pet animals. It has a dotted tail in white.
Cynomys gunnisoni – The species with the shortest tail.
Cynomys mexicanus –An endangered species, concentrated in a small territory in Mexico.
Cynomys parvidens – An endangered species. The smallest of them all.
They are diurnal animals that can measure between 30 to 40 cm, weigh from 1 to 1, 5 kg and have a life expectancy of 8 years.
These animals like to live in underground tunnels that may reach 10 meters in depth and usually their territory is about 1km2. They live in colonies of a few tens of individuals.
The prairie dogs spend most of their time gathering food, building and rebuilding their shelters. They are chiefly herbivorous, feeding on plants, roots, leaves, flowers, etc. Although sometimes they hunt insects.
They are intelligent and organized; most of the tunnels have specific sections: rooms, rooms of the cubs and even bathrooms. The tunnels of these rodents are not complete without the checkpoints they use to spy, a very characteristic behavior of these animals. They are very social. The groups are generally formed by a male, two or more females and the cubs. These groups are strongly hierarchical, but prairie dogs perform many tasks in conjunction, such as collecting food and treat the coat.
Highly vocal, the prairie dogs use a group of acute sounds to communicate. The warning signal to predators is a form of barking, only twice, accompanied by the nod of the head.
During the winter, the prairie dog goes through a period of torpor and hibernation.
The black-tailed prairie dog, Cynomys ludovicianus, is confined to a narrow corridor reaching from southwestern Canada to northern Mexico. The species has been heavily persecuted owing to its liking for cereal crops and its competition for food with grazing animals.
This specie has red-brown upperparts, white underparts, a black tail tip and small ears. They can measure up to 30cm without the tail and weigh up to 1.5kg. A female can give birth from one to six offspring after a 33 to 38 days of gestation.
The black-tailed prairie dog as a pet
This prairie dog has become one of my favorite rodents to have as a pet!
Their popularity as pets has grown because they are very affectionate and playful animals, but they are difficult to handle. They require a lot of attention, so if you can't set aside some time every day for them, this is not the right pet for you. They live in society and need to feel part of a group, which may be other prairie dogs or humans.
Diet
A very important issue is their diet. They need a very specific diet of rations, plants, roots and leaves. It is difficult to find the specific food for prairie dogs and the owners are often forced to buy products for similar rodents, which isn't ideal. The best thing for you to do is to give them hay as the main food. You can also give them a grainy hay based as there is for chinchillas and rabbits but always free from alfalfa and always fat free. You can give approximately 25g two times a day, depending on the animal, and also give a bit of carrots, apples, cabbages, etc.
They can gain weight really fast and can even die from it, so they need a very well balanced diet, always fat free.
It’s very important to always have something to sharpen their nails and spend their teeth, since, to the example of other rodents, they never stop growing. You can keep carrots, sweet potatoes, grass, etc. in their cages.
Accommodation
As I already told you, they can grow a lot and at the adult age they can reach 30cm by standing on their hind legs. That's why they need a very big cage, at least a rabbit cage with 80cm in length and 50cm in wight. The cages must always be big in length and never in height like with other rodents, because they can fall. The distance between bars can never be smaller than 1cm by 1cm, because it can cause broken nails and injuries in their paws. Also, it can never be too big because they can break their legs.
The perfect cage for them is a big terrarium, because most of them are big in length and therefore, they can have a big area to live in, besides the fact that they wont be gnawing the iron bars most of the time.
They need a place to sleep. A box like a tupperware is enough and sheets of any kind of material as long as they wont shred a lot. A good trick is to use a t-shirt already worn by you because this is a good help for them to get used to your smell!
The cage must have a layer of absorbent sand for cats, or preferentially the same material used for rabbits, to avoid the smells. On top you can put a thick layer of hay for rodents (never alfalfa), because it provides a pleasant sleep and also they can spend their time eating it.
Another thing that is very important is a wheel for exercise, normally the ones used for ferrets will do because they are the bigger ones.
In case your prairie dog likes to gnaw a lot, you can use wooden toys for rodents.
He can be trained to use a litter box. Give him gifts, like nuts or dog food (not too much!) to reinforce him positively when he has the desired behavior, make the workout more enjoyable for him and you will have better results! You can also teach him in regards to what he can or cannot do by clapping your hands and saying NO for him to understand, showing him after that, what he can do. The corporal punishment does not work with the prairie dog, it will only teach him not to trust you. Putting him inside the cage also works when the verbal order doesn't seem to have worked out. On other occasions other than a punishment, never place your animal in the cage without a caress, otherwise he will associate it as a punishment and will refuse to go to the cage.
As I already told you, they can grow a lot and at the adult age they can reach 30cm by standing on their hind legs. That's why they need a very big cage, at least a rabbit cage with 80cm in length and 50cm in wight. The cages must always be big in length and never in height like with other rodents, because they can fall. The distance between bars can never be smaller than 1cm by 1cm, because it can cause broken nails and injuries in their paws. Also, it can never be too big because they can break their legs.
The perfect cage for them is a big terrarium, because most of them are big in length and therefore, they can have a big area to live in, besides the fact that they wont be gnawing the iron bars most of the time.
They need a place to sleep. A box like a tupperware is enough and sheets of any kind of material as long as they wont shred a lot. A good trick is to use a t-shirt already worn by you because this is a good help for them to get used to your smell!
The cage must have a layer of absorbent sand for cats, or preferentially the same material used for rabbits, to avoid the smells. On top you can put a thick layer of hay for rodents (never alfalfa), because it provides a pleasant sleep and also they can spend their time eating it.
Another thing that is very important is a wheel for exercise, normally the ones used for ferrets will do because they are the bigger ones.
In case your prairie dog likes to gnaw a lot, you can use wooden toys for rodents.
He can be trained to use a litter box. Give him gifts, like nuts or dog food (not too much!) to reinforce him positively when he has the desired behavior, make the workout more enjoyable for him and you will have better results! You can also teach him in regards to what he can or cannot do by clapping your hands and saying NO for him to understand, showing him after that, what he can do. The corporal punishment does not work with the prairie dog, it will only teach him not to trust you. Putting him inside the cage also works when the verbal order doesn't seem to have worked out. On other occasions other than a punishment, never place your animal in the cage without a caress, otherwise he will associate it as a punishment and will refuse to go to the cage.
General needs
When they are about six months old, they turn into real rodents, that is, they will start to love gnawing all that is made of soft wood, plastic, cardboard, paper, etc. For that reason, you must never leave your animal running alone around the house.
You must have a lot of patience because there are difficult phases in the lives of prairie dogs, particularly during the period of the so called heat. During that time, their hormones can turn the sweetest prairie dog into a nervous animal and they might even attack their owner.
As with every other pet, you will have to take your prairie dog to the veterinary periodically, to do a check-up.
I sincerely hope that this information will help and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask me and I will gladly answer them!
As with every other pet, you will have to take your prairie dog to the veterinary periodically, to do a check-up.
I sincerely hope that this information will help and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask me and I will gladly answer them!
Thank you! 
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário