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Scientific Name: |
Meriones crassus |
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Two Meriones species:
top: Meriones crassus (from Pakistan) This is the Sundevall's jird about which the text below is written.
bottom: Meriones crassus perpallidus (from Egypt)
(in Holland and Germany previously known as Meriones shawi II, some time incorrectly thought to be Meriones sacramenti (Negev gerbil))
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The Sundevall's jird from Pakistan is about the same size as the Mongolian gerbil, with a body length of about 12 centimeters. But they are somewhat fatter. The Meriones crassus perpallidus is bigger, almost as big as Meriones shawi, but also somewhat rounder in shape. The eyes and ears are as big as the Mongolians, so is the tail, although the Sundevall's tail ends in a clear dark tip.The main difference from the shawi is that the Sundevalls have a short, sharp ended black tip, whereas the tail tip of the shaw's is longer and not so sharp ending. (look here for a picture of both species)
These gerbils don't have a clear agouti hair pattern, the sandy yellow hairs have a bluish base, but hardly any dark tips.The belly is white and there is a clear demarcation line between the back and belly colour.
The front paws are of a ivory colour, so are the nails.
The whiskers are either yellow, black or yellow with a black base.
The soles of the hind feet are covered with hairs, except for the heels.
Some Meriones crassus perpallidus have a small white spot on their head
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Meriones crassus perpallidus
Meriones crassus from Pakistan.
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Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Persian planes, Sudan, Libya and Algeria.
In the different area's the Meriones crassus subspecies can differ in size and colour.
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The Sundevall's jird lives in groups. They build complex burrows in sand hills. These burrow systems can be to 1 1/2 meters deep and 2 1/2 meters in diameter. The nest rooms are usually at the deepest level, and is covered with rags and paper. No vegetable materials are found.
Sundevall's gerbils captured from the wild are already tame, they won't bite and won't take any afford to escape from the life-trap.
They are nocturnal. They eat all kinds of vegetables, also green bitter fruit and dry pulp. They even get their vegetables from camel feaces! They also eat seeds.
The mating season is from the end of April until September.
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The gestation period of the Sundevall's jird is 22-24 days. On average 4-7 pups are born.
The development of the pups is comparable with Mongolian pups.
At about 10 days the hairs start to grow, at about 16 days the eyes start to open, a few days later they start to walk around and at about 20 days they start to eat solid food.
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Maintenance and behaviour in captivity:
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Like all gerbils, it is best to keep the Sundevall jirds in an aquarium. The Sundevall jirds absolutely need sand, either in a big sand bowl, but you could also keep them on sand.Give them a nesting house, filled with some nesting material like tissues and hay.
They eat normal gerbil/hamster food, sparsely supplemented with some vegetables or fruit.
Sundevall's jirds can be very tame!
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More information about the Sundevall jirds here.
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