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15-03-2008, 01:00 AM
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Richardsons Ground Squirrels.. recent rehomes..
well, added to the clan last weekend, were a pair of "gophers" as they were described to me by the owners..
the male is a right lardy little chap, the female is very underweight, as a cracking RI, and breathes like a pair of bellows.. still she is taking her antib's, drinking her ribena (vitc) and eating an amazing amount of fresh veg, so she might pull through yet.. they were housed in a 3ft wooden glass fronted viv, on what looks like hemp, with nowt bar one chinchilla nest box, a bowl of water and some chinchilla pellets.. Hmmm... they told me they had not really handled them at all, so maybe thats how the missed the female being poorly.. bless her.. she really is wheezing.. hopefully the antib's will help her.. she seems a bit brighter today.. though maybe thats wishful thinking.. i have a radiator next to their tank, so at least they are warm.. not got any solo shots of the female, as i don't want to bug her too much, but this is the male..   i did however, manage to get these shots of them being unbearably cute this evening... everybody say Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...      bless them.. i really hope the female pulls through... Nerys 
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15-03-2008, 01:02 AM
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OMG, i think im in love.
Excuse my patheticness here. 
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15-03-2008, 01:31 AM
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lol *grins*
cute eh! so much for not tame at all either bless them, the male will nip gently when he wants to get down, but thats about it.. mind you with the size of his saddle bags... i don't think he could act wild if he tried! the female drives him off the food too.. god knows how they have ended up with her the thin one.. we suspect she may have had a litter, her nipples are very big for sure.. as to what happened to them if she did, i am not sure.. died maybe? cannibalised? who knows.. he is about 3 times her width tho! N
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15-03-2008, 01:33 AM
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AWWWWWWWW
They are all cuddled up together - i'm in love too i think! Will they mate? Would be really nice to have little gophers running about
__________________
0.2 Dogs, Tammy and Ellie 0.1 Royal, Savannah 0.2 Chinchillas Betty and Bubbles 1.0 Corn, Guss
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15-03-2008, 01:45 AM
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will they mate... umm.. well in theory they will yes, they are a sexed pair..
however, i would really rather they did not for the time being, not until the female is better anyway.. i'd split them up, to make sure she is getting more food etc and does not risk being mated.. but when you look at them like that together.. i worry it would stress her more to be on her own... as far as i know they have always been together, and they are a colony animal... babies would indeed be nice.. but at the moment i am more keen to see the female not looking and sounding like she has just run a marathon..  lol, they are a real couple eh in those shots.. they are quite chatty too.. lots of whistles and chucks come from the nest  N
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15-03-2008, 01:47 AM
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Good point nery, it may stress her more right now to seperate.
I've never seen these being kept as pets before - but they really are adorable. Wish you the best of luck with this pair and lets hope when the female has gained weight we'll hear the tiny patter of gopher babies !
__________________
0.2 Dogs, Tammy and Ellie 0.1 Royal, Savannah 0.2 Chinchillas Betty and Bubbles 1.0 Corn, Guss
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15-03-2008, 02:17 AM
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they are a bit like mini P.dogs, as bosshog and i have been saying this evening.. when you look at shots of hers, in close up, they are so similar
this is the wikki page one them Richardson's Ground Squirrel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia rory tells me they can be hard to keep in captivity unless they are warm enough, apparently they hibernate very easily and can be very hard to bring back out of hibernation again. the trouble is, if you do not hibernate them, then they can suffer from health problems such as heart malfunctions. apparently, in the wild, they can go into hibernation from as early as july onwards!!! adults are known to hibernate for 7-9 months, and their body temps drop as low as 0c these were kept in a heated reptile room, as said, in a reptile viv in fact, so i doubt they will have been able to hibernate at all.. i have a feeling hibernation plays a role in successful breeding too... there is not much info around about breeding them in fact, they may not actually come into sexual maturity until after they have hibernated for the first time.. although they are a sociable animal, females do not allow males into the burrows when there are babies about, so if she did fall pregnant i would need to take that into account. some of the texts say they only tolerate members of the immediate family around them, whether the two i have are related or not i do not know.. i guess its possible though.. females are also only fertile for one day every year, if they miss that slot, or loose their litter, they will not breed again until the following year there is not an awful lot about them around, and most of what is around is very generalised.. some texts gloss over the hibernation issues, some make much of it, i guess there is still a lot to learn about these little guys N
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15-03-2008, 02:46 PM
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aw they are absolutely stunning, i'm in love
. All the best with getting the female well, fingers crossed for you.
__________________
"When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity." George Bernard Shaw
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15-03-2008, 04:01 PM
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Squeeeeee!
That's kind of good on the one-day-breeding thing, the chances are that she'll have a year to recover properly... They're very, very sweet! The only time I've seen these in 'the flesh' was in Houten a couple of years ago... very nice size, and adorable!
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