Prairie Dog pics*

[silent_truth]

I've been asked to repost the pics of my prairie dog named Ernie in a separate thread, so here they are and I added a couple more just for fun. Thanks for looking!

-Adam






Ernie would like to say Happy New Year! His new resolution is not to bite the hand that feeds him anymore....we'll see how that goes.

[BellyDraggers]

Nice pics we have always like prairie dogs!.

Cheers
Scotty & Les

[Zoe]

Awww I love those buggers!!! Very cute Is he quite bitey?

Where did you get that cage? I have some big ones like that for my rat colonies but I'm looking for some smaller ones for the weanlings.

Zoe

[silent_truth]

Ernie's not too bitey, but he likes to wrestle and he is a little defensive of his cage, but once he's out and in my hands, he's usually okay to hold. However, he's still got a long way to being trustworthy, so the adventures continue!

Zoe, I got the cage in the pic from a Super Pet that I work at. I forget the exact price but I think it's around $100. It works really well, as everything can be wiped down and the bottom tray slides right out for easy maintenance. I like this design a lot.

Thanks to BellyDraggers and Zoe for the nice comments! Ernie is quite a show-off so he loves having his picture taken.

-Adam

[Zoe]

Thanks! Do you know if that have any smaller ones?

[Clownfishie]

What a cutie!

[silent_truth]

Thanks Clownfishie! Ernie's ego just jumped another level, but he loves the praise.

Zoe, I think that there are cages very similar to mine that are smaller. They may not have two doors, if they are smaller, but I know that we sell chinchilla cages with two levels and a single door. We carry a variety of styles similar to this.

-Adam

[Syco]

He is so cute!

[Lisa]

cage looks exactly like on of ourrat cages. we got it from superpet for aboout $120. we much prefer martin's cages, easier to clean. www.martinscages.com

[MartinW]

Hey silent_truth, you said they can be trained. What can you train them to do? Can they be trained to go in a litter box like cats? I doubt I'll get one but I'm curious to know more. Plus I think I remember hearing pd's are illegal in Ottawa.

Martin

[Zoe]

These are different, because the frame doesn't sit in the drop-pan; the pan pulls out like a drawer.

[silent_truth]

Martin, from what I understand they can be trained to recognize their name. However, I'm a firm believer that if you spend enough time with most animals, they can do a lot more than what is considered the norm. At my workplace, I've seen them learn to open basic locks on the cages. I'm not sure if they can be litter trained, but I know that in nature, the prairie dog colonies designate a certain area for a "toilet" so that they don't contaminate their food source with their own waste.

Zoe, you are correct, I forgot that there is indeed a different design for the pull-out pan feature. I'm not sure if we carry the same style in a smaller size then, but I would check out the store's website. It lists most commonly available cages. I hope this helps some.

-Adam

[Hamster of Borg]

I have four. They all come to their names and squeak on command. They don't really potty train, but generally will always go in one spot. They are one of the few rodents that actually crave human attention... even ignoring food for a few moments with their owner. All I know is that if I had gotten into prairie dogs 15 years ago, I never would have messed with other rodent pets.

Right now, all prairie dogs are illegal to sell/buy/trade or transport in the US because of the monkey pox scare last summer. The law is up for review at the end of next month and it is anticipated that it will be lifted and they will be allowed to be sold again. I don't know what Canada did about it though.

Please look up the proper diet of prairie dogs - if what I see in that bowl is what I think it is.

Ham

[silent_truth]

Hamster of Borg:

The food I feed to my prairie dog is as follows:

It includes a mixed diet of Nutri-block, a pelleted rodent diet and I throw in a few assorted seeds just for flavour. (in the pic you can see the assorted seeds, pellets and nutri-block). I also provide large stocks of timothy hay, fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. It doesn't all fit into the bowl, so that's why only a couple things show up in it. Glad you like prairie dogs as much as I do and sorry to hear about the hopefully only temporary ban on their trade in the U.S.

[Hamster of Borg]

Here's my crew, of course the two middle ones are much larger now... the pics are nearly a year old:


Seeds and rodent blocks are not considered to be good for prairie dogs, I think it is mainly the fat content - my guess would be that if they get plenty of exercise that shouldn't be a real issue. Mine are on pretty much just a hay and fresh native grasses diet, with some timothy pellets mixed in sometimes. I also throw in some things like Mini-Wheats and Cheerios for treats every now and then but feed them no seeds at all.

Ham