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Scientific Name: |
Gerbillus amoenus |
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photo: Karin van Veen
REQUEST: There are only few Charming dipodils left in The Netherlands. I am searching for other people who keep this species, or people who can bring me in contact with people who can help me obtaining some "new amoenus blood".
Please e-mail me, if you can help me!
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With their length of only 81 mm (excluding the tail) these gerbils are real "dwarf gerbils". The tail is slightly longer than the body, thin not pigmented and sparsely covered with hairs. There is also the typical tuft at the tails end, but it is a rather small tuft.
The Charming dipodil has a real agouti hair pattern. The colour of the back is a warm brown/red colour. The belly is clear white with a clear line between the back and belly.
The greyish ears are bare.
Behind the ears and above the big round eyes they have some light coloured fur.
The nails are clear. The hind feet are much longer than the front feet.
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The Charming dipodil lives in Egypt and Libya, possibly also in Tunisia, Algeria and Marocco.
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In Libya these gerbils seem to live in all type of habitats present. They have been found in areas of loose sand covered with fallen leaves, at the base of date palms, but also in sandy clay grounds near agricultural fields and oases.
Actually they live in an area from the thickly grown coastal areas to the almost bare hamadas.
They seem to have a preference for the areas of loose sand and the salty marshes, though.
Their burrows are fairly simple, about 25 cm deep.
Charming dipodils are also found in the burrows of the fat sand rat (Psammomys obesus), but also in Bedouin tents.
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They are pretty hard to breed in captivity, they usually get 2-3 pups, mostly during spring.
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Maintenance and behaviour in captivity:
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The only bedding suitable for these gerbils is sand. At least 1/3 of the sand should consist of chinchilla dust. Otherwise their fur will get very greasy and that doesn't only look bad but the fur won't isolate either.
Provide the Charming dipodils with a nesting box or pot, preferably with a small opening. Fill this nesting box with tissues and/or wood shavings.
It is possible to keep 3 to 4 animals of different sexes together. When the group grows bigger the animals can start to fight which surely leads to dead animals. Charming dipodils are rather sensitive to stress.
It can be very hard to introduce adult Charming dipodils to each other. I will describe one way that might work.
Put the most dominant animal; often the female, in a small wire cage, with wire all around. Place this in a larger container, where the male can freely walk around. The male can approach the female from all sides now, they can sniff at each other but not fight. After a couple of days the female will be that intimidated that you can leave her out of the wire cage, and she might be friendly towards the male now. |
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