Thats a great setup. I keep mine in the 3 tier ferret cages. The male at the moment is in a glass tank. I am in the middle of getting him a cage for when he's introduced to the girlies later this year

I do have a large dog crate, but the door is at 1 end and if I put the females in it and opened it up, I think they'd leg it! I've only just got them trained to sit still in the cage I've got!!

Pouchie - It may be Emins that aren't keen on inverts, as Gambians are devils when it comes to livefood!! Mine will eat locusts, crickets, mealies and moths when available Mine also love cooked chicken, turkey and beef
They get those as a treat only. My old male Gambian was always eating. He'd stuff half a banana in each pouch, with a little avacado as pudding! I may think about Emins in the future, but at the moment I'm saving for some 'specials'

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Foolish man buys wife Grand Piano - Wise man gives wife upright organ!

ooo 'specials' eh? do you have kangaroo rats?


Nope my Emins will definitely not take chicken or insects. Strange.

They would live on fruit and nuts if they could. Actually, I think each of them would quite happily live on 100% bananas . . .


Have you introduced pouched rats before? Lou and I have found it best to introduce the male to the females cage, unlike most animals.

Makes sense being as it is thought the male visits the female's burrow in the wild

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So far, Ben hasn't taken any mealworms from me but he is still really shy. I agree with Pouchie, he'd live off banana and avocado if he could...although he was very partial to some mango last night too!

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Fancy Rat - Liam (RIP Ian Brown, Ian Curtis and Noel)
Gambian Pouched Rat - Ben
Cane Toads - Hermione (RIP Trevor & Ron)
Goldfish - Lieutenant Shinysides
Millipedes - Bella and Narcissa

aww. try him with papaya he will love that too!

mine love a huge range of nuts. their favourite seems to be macadamia, brazil and pecans.

i tend to buy a bag of mixed nuts but they are like £4 for a tiny bag!!

oo oo and dried apricots! they love those.

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They just love sweet, fattening foods don't they? I'll have to try some macadamia nuts on Ben (very dear...dear food for a dear rat I guess ). He pouched his brazil nuts but hasn't taken any since then, I will try him with some papaya and other tropical fruits...bless him, he doesn't like junk food - I offered him one of Liam's chocolate drops (Liam's a fattie) but he turned his nose down at them. Little health freak!! Doesn't take after his mummy then

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Fancy Rat - Liam (RIP Ian Brown, Ian Curtis and Noel)
Gambian Pouched Rat - Ben
Cane Toads - Hermione (RIP Trevor & Ron)
Goldfish - Lieutenant Shinysides
Millipedes - Bella and Narcissa

yeah probably best. chocolate is a bit dicey anyway and he must know it! LOL.

they have macadamias in the wild and i always giggle when mine have bananas because the ones i get from tesco are from the ivory coast. i wonder if they would be pinching these very bananas if they were in the wild. . .

bear in mind also that pouched rats go through phases. they seem to know what they need and although things like broccoli is supposed to be great for them, they will sometimes ignore it and sometimes eat it like their life depends upon it.

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Yep, specials I do keep Kangaroo rats


Mine only get Bananas as a treat They get a lot of other fruit in their diet as it is, but bananas and avacado seem to be favourites of my poucheys.


Not yet. I have been told to introduce the male though, so this is what I'm going to do

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Foolish man buys wife Grand Piano - Wise man gives wife upright organ!

Have your bred your k.rats? I am looking for a male.

Can I ask, do you keep yours together? Our female is very solitary.

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I have bred them. Non available yet though. How do you keep yours?

I keep mine in a 4' gerbilarium. They need the space for courtship as theres a lot of jumping and chasing! There are also other factors in breeding these PM me for details

I do keep mine together, but they can become aggressive out of season. They can do serious damage to each other if not given the opportunity to escape.

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Foolish man buys wife Grand Piano - Wise man gives wife upright organ!

Our setup is a zoozoneII full of sand and an exoterra cave buried in which they go in and block up the entrance all day. We scatter the seeds around for them to collect and offer the odd bit of fruit and live foods in small amounts. They have no standing water source. Neither do our Jerboas.

Please please can you remember me if you have a litter? Would definitely have a male off you and some advice re breeding. We had a lot of ninja kicking and severe aggression but no mating.

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