If you want to know more about the life of dormouse in nature, about their friends and enemies, then click here: Dormice in nature
Of all the species of dormouse living in the European part, the hazel dormouse is most suitable for keeping in a zoo corner - an animal that resembles a miniature squirrel, slightly smaller than a gray rat, with a long fluffy tail. The ears are short, with rounded tips, covered with sparse hair; the soles of the hind legs are bare, the heels are covered with short hair. The back is smoky-gray with a brownish tint and a silvery coating. The belly and chest are white; paws pale yellowish; the tail is gray on top, whitish below. The hair is long and lush. The dormouse inhabits predominantly forest areas dominated by oak, beech, walnut, wild fruit trees, and hazel.
Hazel Dormouse
The hazel dormouse feeds on acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, beech nuts, and various berries and fruits. Animal food plays a secondary role in her diet.
Sonya is a fast, restless animal, active from dusk to morning. Lives mainly in trees; climbs well on trunks and thin branches; jumping from one tree to another Covers a distance of up to 7-10 m. Makes nests from dry leaves and grass in the hollows of old trees, in artificial structures for birds, much less often 
natural voids among stones and under roots. The nest has a spherical shape and is used for resting and raising offspring.
The breeding season begins in May and ends in October. The female brings 2 litters of 3-5 cubs each season. Dormouses are in hibernation from October to May. They rarely bite when caught.
Keeping hazel dormouse in a home zoo is not difficult. The cage, as for other rodents, must be metal and large in size so that the animals have enough space to walk. A nest box or a tree stump with a natural hollow with a bedding of hay, straw, and dry leaves is installed in it.
Dormouses kept in an enclosure sometimes bear offspring. For hatching, the male and female build nests that are larger than for resting, 15-20 cm in diameter. Immediately after mating, the female expels the male from the nest and raises the offspring alone. Pregnancy lasts 21-24 days. Cubs at the age of 13-14 days become covered with hair, after another 3 days they open their eyes and after 4 weeks they begin to leave the nest. They become completely independent at 1.5 months. Puberty in young individuals occurs in the same year.
By autumn, dormice accumulate a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and enter winter hibernation, during which they lose almost half of their original weight. Mild winters end tragically for many animals: waking up frequently, they lose a large amount of energy and die from exhaustion.
In captivity, at temperatures above 10°C, dormice are active all winter, but, being nocturnal animals, they usually sleep all day. The average lifespan of this rodent is 4 years.
The dormouse is fed with a food mixture for songbirds, oatmeal, nuts, acorns, vegetables and berries. Diversify the diet with animal feed, minced meat, insects and their larvae. There should always be clean, room temperature water in the cage.
Garden dormouse. The animal is the same size as the hazel dormouse. The muzzle is pointed; The ears are large, rounded, narrow at the base. The tail is covered with thick hair: in its main part it is short, at the end there is a wide, flat brush of long hair. The back is bright, brownish-brown; neck, chest, belly, paws and ears are white; Black stripes run from the eyes to the base of the ears. In Russia it lives in the middle and southern zones of the European part. Inhabits mixed and broad-leaved forests with a predominance of oak, linden, maple and dense undergrowth of bird cherry, rowan, hazel and rose hips. Prefers to settle on the edges, clearings and old burnt areas; found in gardens, city parks and even in human dwellings located near forests. Omnivore. It feeds on various seeds and berries, insects, mollusks, and bird eggs. Settling near orchards, it willingly consumes large quantities of apples, pears, peaches, cherries, and grapes along with seeds. With the dexterity of a squirrel and the sneakiness of a mouse, dormice penetrate everywhere. Once in the room where food is stored, they do not disdain anything: they gnaw crusts of bread, remove lids from pots and feast on milk, cream and sour cream. Plant foods do not occupy a leading place in the diet of the garden dormouse, but the predilection for animal food is clearly visible in all parts of its range. The basis of nutrition is insects and other invertebrates, being easy and accessible prey. In mixed coniferous and mixed forests, dormouse prefer insects such as dung beetles, bronze beetles, beetles, and click beetles. Dormouse reacts very quickly to any moving object and strives to grab it, so small vertebrates and birds, especially hollow nesters, also become its prey. In dormouse nests you can always see bird feathers, wool, remains of rodent skins, chitinous cover and beetle legs in abundance.
At home, garden dormouse should be kept in fairly spacious enclosures made of fine and durable mesh. Moss, turf, driftwood, hollow tree trunks are placed at the bottom - all this can serve as a refuge, a place for rest and solitude while eating tasty food. Since these animals need to climb, jump, and run along branches, the enclosure can be small in width, but not less than 1 m in height and 1.5 m in length. Sonya get along well with each other, almost never quarrel and often rest in the same shelter. In addition to plant foods, they should be given animal foods: butterfly pupae, crickets, large cockroaches, mealworms, minced meat and a boiled egg. These animals eat very well all kinds of nutritional mixtures with the addition of milk powder. They are given water daily, regardless of the availability of succulent food.
Garden dormouse breed in captivity and raise offspring. Females who have lived in a domestic zoo for several years can give birth to cubs in different seasons. Despite their “carnivory”, they are usually not aggressive, and even after a short period of time in a cage they become so fat that they lose their inherent mobility. The dormouse, taken in hand, makes itself comfortable, sits on its hind legs, and calmly allows any painless “manipulations” to be performed on itself. However, for greater safety, of course, it is best to handle animals with gloves.
Forest dormouse. A small, graceful animal with a long fluffy tail. The muzzle is sharp, the ears are round, the tail is noticeably thickened, evenly covered with elongated hair. The color of the back is reddish-buff, somewhat grayer on the sides, the cheeks, neck, chest and belly are grayish-yellow; the tail is dirty gray, often with a whitish tip, and there are black stripes on the head from the nose through the eyes to the ears.
Inhabits mixed and deciduous forests, gardens, and overgrown ravines. Distributed in central Volos and southern Russia, in the mountains of Central Asia, and Altai.
It feeds on berries and their seeds, fruits, nuts, acorns, seeds and buds of various trees, insects, and less often bird eggs.
The forest dormouse primarily lives in trees and bushes, but often descends to the ground. It usually builds spherical nests in hollows of trees, on the branches of bushes at a height of 0.25 m to 12 m. It settles in old bird nests and in burrows or natural voids under the roots. Males and single females usually build their shelters carelessly: the frame is loose, translucent, the lining may be absent. But brood nests have an outer frame made of thin twigs or the tops of the shoots of shrubs, between which leaves, moss and dry grass are placed. It is quite durable and well protects the inner chamber, built from soft, delicate material - split oak, plant fluff, wool. Brood nests are always well camouflaged. In the southern regions, dormouse places them on the shady side, and the elastic outer shell reliably hides the entrance hole.
Dormouses sleep in winter. They awaken by the time the snow finally melts and positive temperatures set in - in April-May. The males are the first to wake up and begin to feed intensively, replenishing energy losses during the long winter. They are very excited and run around a lot, exploring the boundaries of their territory. After 7-10 days, females awaken, ready to reproduce. Pregnancy lasts 27-28 days. Childbirth most often occurs at night. Forest dormouse live on average 3 years. They are the most mobile of all species of this group of animals, which should not be forgotten when feeding them. Dormouses love to rebuild their shelter, so the cage or enclosure should have supplies of hay, straw, branches, etc.
At any time of the year, dormice willingly eat fresh branches, tearing off their bark, leaves, and buds. Forest dormice can be kept in large groups in a home zoo - they usually do not show aggression towards each other, but during collective wintering, hungry animals can eat a fellow sleeping nearby. Forest dormouse, taken young, quickly get used to humans and even take food from hands. They can hang on the net for hours in the hope of getting some kind of delicacy - a mealworm, a beetle, a butterfly. As soon as you bring it to the cage, the animals instantly gather around the food, trying to get ahead of each other. Even during the rutting season, the company lives in the same shelter, although the males chase each other with squealing, but there are no bloody fights.
Sonya the regiment. The largest representative of the dormouse family. Body length 13-18 cm, tail about 10 cm. Ears are short, with rounded tips and sparse hair; the soles of the hind legs are bare, the heels are covered with short hair. The color of the back is smoky gray with a brownish or silvery tint; the belly and chest are white; paws are pale yellow; the tail is gray above, whitish below. The hairline is long and fluffy.
Dormouse inhabits lowland and mountain broad-leaved forests in the central zone of the European part of Russia and the Caucasus. Preference is given to areas with a predominance of oak, beech, walnut and wild fruit trees. It feeds on acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, beech nuts, various berries and fruits. Animal feed is not of great importance. The animals love sweet, ripe fruits and berries, so during feeding they try the fruit and throw it away if it doesn’t suit their taste.
The dormouse leads a predominantly arboreal lifestyle and rarely descends to the ground. It climbs well not only on trunks, but also on thin branches, easily jumps from one tree to another at a distance of up to 7-10 m. It makes nests in the hollows of old trees, artificial bird nests, and less often in natural voids under snags. 
Mating begins in July. The female's pregnancy lasts 20-25 days, females give birth to 1 litter per season, in which there are 3-10 cubs.
From November until the end of May-June next year, the dormouse is in deep hibernation. Often several animals, usually 4-8, spend the winter in one nest. The dormouse awakens later than other types of dormouse, in different areas in different ways. In the Caucasus, for example, a mass awakening occurs in the second half of June: during this period, cherry plum and mulberry fruits ripen in forests and gardens, which are what the grasshoppers mainly feed on. The males wake up first.
The rutting period is very stormy, accompanied by endless running around and a showdown. The forest in which the bats live is filled with grumbling, chirping, grunting, sharp high-pitched screams, and often ends with a whistle - this sound can be repeated at different intervals throughout the night. At this time, fights between males are possible.
Marriage relationships among the females do not persist after mating, and the female raises the offspring alone. Newborn animals are very active, but their development is rather slow. Ten-day-old wings are covered with hair 6 mm long, the back and head are pigmented, the claws are dark in color, and the toes are separated. Their incisors are already coming through. They become sighted at 18-20 days and leave the nest at the age of about 45 days.
Polchkas are rarely kept in home zoo corners, since these animals spend about 7 months a year in hibernation, are awake at dusk and at night, and do not like to be watched. They hibernate even when they are kept in a warm room. In addition, bats caught in captivity do not become tame, they show aggression towards humans and can bite if handled carelessly. Housing conditions, care and feeding are the same as for other species of this family.
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Description of the forest dormouse
The small poison dart frog, the forest dormouse, has much in common with mice and squirrels, and at the same time. Features of appearance, namely color, size and behavior depend on the place of immediate habitat. Depending on the place of residence, the color of the forest dormouse’s fur may be darker or lighter, and the contrast between shades may manifest itself differently.
Appearance
Dormice are small animals with a slightly elongated body. The total body length ranges from 60 to 120 mm. The flattened tail, separately, can be the same length, the hair on it is longer. The tail serves not just as decoration, but as an important vestibular tool. It helps to balance on the branches, playing the role of a kind of rudder. Also, this part of the body may indicate the mood of the rodent. If the long hair on the tail lies smoothly, the animal feels secure. Raised hairs in this area indicate an unfriendly attitude. In anticipation of danger, the dormouse raises its hairs to appear larger to its opponent. Cats do much the same.
This is interesting! The long narrow head ends with a sharp muzzle, the rodent's eyes stand out noticeably against the general background, they are dark, round and shiny. On the head of the animal there are prominent round ears; they are quite large.
On the muzzle itself, like most species of rodents, there are vibrissae. These are additional “tools” for orienting the animal in space. With them they pick up the smallest air vibrations, as a result of which they can navigate in space in conditions of relative darkness. The length of the whiskers in relation to the body size of the forest dormouse ranges from 20 to 40%. The antennae, each individually, can make movements due to the contraction of the subcutaneous muscles of the face. This organ of touch helps to better navigate the world around the rodent.
It is interesting that the dormouse's hind legs have 5 fingers, and the front legs have 4. The legs are thin and short. The rodent's fur is short, of uniform length throughout the body, except for the tail, soft and silky to the touch.. As a rule, on the chest it is colored in grayish-yellow shades. The fur on the chest and throat is the same color. The back of the forest dormouse is brownish-reddish. On the muzzle these two colors are separated by a contrasting stripe of dark black-brown color.
Character and lifestyle
Deciduous thickets and forests are considered the favorite habitats of the forest dormouse. She is a fan of thickets with dense undergrowth and places of hollow trees. But at the same time you can meet it in a garden or park area. This funny animal is widespread in the central zone and in the west of the European part of the Russian Federation. For its home, the dormouse chooses natural shelters. These could be hollow trees, old abandoned nests of all kinds of birds. For example, forty. If there is no suitable vacant place, the dormouse will not be embarrassed by the presence of “owners” in the nest. She can settle in a hollow or birdhouse, expelling the feathered owners with a bang.
This rodent can make a home on its own. The material most often used is tree bast and other small plant “garbage”. This is grass, fluff, dry leaves; a braid of flexible branches is used as a frame. It takes approximately 2-4 days to build one dwelling. Dormouses manage to build their houses in the dense thickets of thorny bushes. Thus, they make it safer by preventing predators from getting close. The forest dormouse is an economic rodent; they devote most of their construction time to arranging the interior of the home. Sonya stuffs it with down, wool, and dry grass, which makes it not only warm and cozy, but also perfectly camouflages the chicks raised in it from prying eyes.
Therefore, if you happen to see an untidy, translucent nest without bedding, this is a bachelor’s home or a temporary overnight stay. The animal will not stay in such a house for long; it could serve as a holding point, then the dormouse will go to build a new nest. In the territory where one individual lives, you can find up to 8 such dwellings. A rodent can change apartments, even if they are clogged, in order to comply with sanitary standards. There is no separate passage into the nest. The dormouse enters and exits through any suitable gap between the bars. This structure also makes it difficult prey for predators.
This is interesting! Forest dormouses are also careful about the cleanliness of their own bodies. They can spend hours combing out each fiber of their own tail, carefully sorting through them.
Winter apartments are built deep underground in piles of brushwood or thickets of the root system of a tree. Close to the surface, the soil freezes too much, not giving them a chance to survive, so they settle with the onset of cold weather at a distance of 30 cm down from ground level.
The forest dormouse is a climbing animal. It climbs well along the branches of trees and bushes, and is active both during the day and at night. During the day, even most of the species spends sleeping. Sharp curved claws and special “calluses” allow it to easily stay on the branches without falling down. And the vibrissae help to navigate well in dense thickets.
The cold puts the animal into a stupor. In this state, the forest dormouse spends all the cold days of the year in hibernation. Such torpor lowers the rodent’s body temperature, slowing down metabolic processes, allowing for economical use of vital resources. For this period, some dormouse stock up on food, which they eat with pleasure when they wake up during thaw periods. After this, with the temperature dropping again, the dormouse can fall asleep, having refreshed itself, and continue its hibernation. The remaining representatives of the species consume only the fat reserves of their own body, accumulated during the warm seasons.
How long does the forest dormouse live?
In the wild, forest dormouse live from 2 to 6 years. This animal can be tamed if it was caught in infancy. When fishing, you should not take them with your bare hands; dormice do not like this.
Range, habitats
Forest dormouse are common in the forest zone from Central Asia to Kazakhstan and European countries. They inhabited the northern part of Africa, China and Japan. The dormouse family includes up to 9 genera. The number of their species is 28. They can be found even in Asia Minor and Altai.
Diet of the forest dormouse
The diet of the forest dormouse may include various insects. However, animals choose plant foods as their preferred type of nutrition. They happily eat plant seeds and fruits along the way, and do not disdain berry seeds. If a forest dormouse encounters a bird’s nest with small chicks or laid eggs on its way, it will happily feast on them.
This is interesting! The process of eating food by an animal itself deserves special attention and affection. Like most rodents, they pick up food in their tiny paws and then bring it to their mouths. It's nice to watch how deftly these kids handle seeds and berries with their tiny fingers.
Hazel Dormouse, or the Muscardinus avellanarius (lat. Muscardinus avellanarius) is a mammal of the dormouse family of the order of rodents.
In the deciduous forests of Europe and northern Turkey, you can often find very pretty rodents that resemble squirrels - hazel dormouse. The animals got their name thanks to their constant love for hazel fruits and daytime sleep in cozy nests. They also feed on a variety of seeds and berries.
It is worth noting that you can check the presence of these rodents in a particular area in a very simple way: to do this, you should find a hazel nut, gnawed in a manner characteristic of hazel dormouse. They place their houses in hollow trees or on the branches of bushes. Hazel dormouse spend the winter hibernating in nests underground.
Hazel Dormouse- an animal that resembles a miniature squirrel. It is the size of a mouse: body length 15 cm, body weight 15-25 g. This is one of the smallest dormouse. The tail is long, 6-7.7 cm, with a tassel at the end.
The muzzle is slightly blunt; ears are small, rounded; the mustache is long, up to 40% of the body length. Hazel dormouse is the most arboreal species among dormouse, which is reflected in the structure of their limbs. 4 fingers of the hand are almost the same length; The first toe is smaller than the others and is perpendicular to them. When moving along the branches, the hands turn to the sides almost at a right angle.
The color of the upper body of the hazel dormouse is buffy-red, sometimes with a reddish tint; the lower side is lighter with a fawn tint. There may be light, almost white spots on the throat, chest and belly. Fingers are white. The tip of the tail is dark or, conversely, light, depigmented.
Hazel Dormouse lives in deciduous and mixed forests, settling in places with rich undergrowth and undergrowth of hazel, rosehip, euonymus, rowan, bird cherry, viburnum and other fruit and berry trees and shrubs, which provides the animals with a food supply (in particular, alternation of ripening food) and good protective conditions.
It can be found along forest or country roads, along the edges of clearings, in overgrown clearings. In the mountains it rises up to 2000 m above sea level. In the Yaroslavl and Vladimir regions, dormice prefer deciduous forests with a predominance of linden, ash, and oak. In the Volga region, hazel dormouse can also be found in coniferous forests with a rich admixture of deciduous and broad-leaved species.
The hazel dormouse lives primarily in the undergrowth, skillfully climbing bushes, even the thinnest and most flexible branches. Active from dusk until morning.
The nest is located on a branch at a height of 1-2 m above the ground or in a low-lying hollow. Dormouse also willingly occupies birdhouses, titmouses, and nest boxes, regardless of whether the house is already occupied by birds or not. Redstarts and pied flycatchers suffer more from dormouse, and great tits and blue tits, which are capable of repelling this small rodent, suffer to a lesser extent.
The hazel dormouse's food ration consists mainly of seeds of tree and shrub species (nuts, acorns, chestnuts, beech, linden nuts) and a variety of berries and fruits.
The hazel dormouse's favorite food is hazel nuts. In early spring, the animal uses young shoots and buds for food. According to some sources, there is no animal food in his diet; According to others, it is believed that the hazel dormouse attacks small passerine birds and destroys egg clutches. The dormouse avoids foods high in cellulose because it lacks a cecum where cellulose is digested.
These animals are easily tamed and can even bear offspring in captivity.
Animal dormouse is one of the representatives of the squad. They are so small that they fit perfectly in the palm of a person. These tiny mammals have a long, bushy tail that resembles a squirrel's.
But only tree-dwelling species have such a beautiful tail. But another species of these animals is endowed with an ordinary bare tail. This interesting animal can be seen mainly in steppe areas and forest areas. Some of them like to bask in the sun and therefore they are found in the northern and southern parts.
Habitats animal dormouse also common in Altai and Asia Minor. But among these rodents there are species that prefer cooler air. More often animals with a name Sony can be seen in dense woody thickets. So, dormouse lives most of its life among tree branches.
In the photo is Sonya Polchok
Forest dormouse They construct their cozy home in a hollow tree or build a safe, strong nest, which they usually build on powerful branches. Some people prefer to use a plot of land under a fallen tree trunk for housing, or dig a hole under the roots.
If such a baby settles in a garden plot, then the cultivated plants noticeably decrease in number. That's why people don't complain garden dormouse. Today, the number of dormice has decreased significantly, so they began to breed them at home, so as not to completely lose such funny, unique animals.
In the photo there is a forest dormouse
Character and lifestyle
Small rodents are active, do not tolerate loneliness, and love to be among their relatives. They are always active and have difficulty getting along at home. Sonya, How pet It gets along better when it has a mate, but some species prefer loneliness.
These mammals are very cautious and are frightened by any unexpected sounds. Therefore, a shelter must be provided for a pet, otherwise the rodent may suffer a nervous shock.
The hazel dormouse and dormouse are the fastest to get used to people, but it is necessary to get a cute pet at an early age so that there are fewer problems with adaptation. Then these babies will be eagerly awaiting your arrival to feast on your hands.
These species have a beautiful fur coat. The very thick and soft fur will not leave any adult indifferent, and will completely amaze a small child. Look at this photo, where the animal dormouse looks with its black beady eyes so that you involuntarily want to touch this fluffy ball.
Despite its harmless appearance, it should be noted that dormice can bite quite strongly, even if you have already made friends with it. This happens because they are very shy and any rustle can provoke a defensive reaction.
More animals dormouse They are very nimble, so if you take the animal in your hands, you may not be able to follow its immediate escape. In a fraction of a second, the sleepyhead will be on your head, and then, perhaps, on the curtain and eventually will be free.
So you need to be on your guard and not give the fugitive the opportunity to disappear from sight. I would like to warn you that you should not grab this animal by the tail, as it can rush forward and you will only have a thin fluffy skin in your hands. The trouble is that after this the tail does not grow back.
And these animals deftly crawl into even the narrowest vertical cracks, and it should be noted that not only in trees, but also in domestic dwellings. This is facilitated by the natural gift of shrinking from the sides.
Under natural conditions, this unique opportunity saves lives. Thanks to its excellent hearing, the dormouse can hide from danger in time. The ears, like locators, constantly rotate independently of each other. The garden dormouse has the largest ears.
Sonya is an animal nocturnal, but in captivity you can change their lifestyle. To do this, you need to illuminate the habitat at night, and backlight it with a blue or red lamp during the day.
Watching their acrobatic tricks can give you great pleasure and a great mood for the whole day. Often animal sleepyhead can be seen in a pet store, as well as in a specialized nursery, so it is possible buy such a handsome man for every lover.
Nutrition
The diet of rodents is varied. They include sunflower seeds and all types of nuts in their basic diet. The dormouse's teeth are so sharp that by rotating the nuts in their front paws, they get inside the shell and feast on the wonderful fruit. The little animals are vegetarians, so their menu always includes all types of fruits and vegetables.
But for all species the food is somewhat different from the standard. So for forest, garden and African dormouse, animal food is typical. Animals are also not averse to pampering themselves with raw meat, cottage cheese and eggs. May beetles, crickets and cockroaches are also the favorite food of dormouse.
If they manage to escape from forced housing, then small rodents, birds and lizards can be a wonderful meal. But tree dormice love everything that grows on trees.
Sometimes they prefer small insects. Dormouses, which live in trees, look for bird nests and feast on their eggs. This type of rodent can also attack smaller animals.
Ground dormice are herbivores. The diet traditionally includes dandelion leaves, clover and nettles. garden dormouse, Having settled near an orchard, they eat huge quantities of apples, pears and other fruits along with their seeds.
In the photo there is a garden dormouse
To prepare for winter, garden dormouse accumulate fat in the fall and then sleep peacefully in their burrow. In captivity, the dormouse feeds on grains, seeds, fruits and nuts. The pet likes boiled meat, milk, cottage cheese and chicken eggs.
Reproduction and lifespan of dormouse
Males and females live together for a very short period. In early spring, mating games among dormouse begin. During this period, they “sing” funny. The whistle is so loud that if you are nearby, you will probably not be able to fall asleep at night.
During the day, the animals behave very carefully and quietly. . After mating is complete, the female hurries to build her cozy nest. The mother takes care of the babies mainly herself.
As a rule, 3-5 cubs are born . The dormouse carefully covers the home for her children with soft grass and delicate leaves. About 27–30 days after fertilization, the young are born naked and blind.
Sometimes there are dormouse that live in a small group. In this case, not only the mother, but also all members of the mouse family monitor the newborns. Children become independent within 1-2 months. The offspring are an exact copy of their relatives. They love to play and eat well.
In captivity, animal reproduction begins after hibernation. For most domestic species, a cage is not an obstacle to reproduction, as long as the pets have a good, nutritious diet.
Only dormouse unable to reproduce in captivity. Interestingly, within a month after birth, the dormouse is capable of childbearing. Basically, offspring appear once a year.
There are up to 10 newborns in a litter. Feeding lasts about three weeks. The animal usually lives in captivity in pairs. Therefore, both parents take care of the babies. funny animals dormouse live from 3 to 6 years. At home, you can increase this period by properly maintaining the animal.
Class: mammals.
Squad: rodents.
Family: dormouse.
Genus: the classification includes 9 genera.
Habitat in nature: In nature, there are 28 species of dormouse, most of which live from North Africa and Asia Minor to Altai, North-West China and Japan; in sub-Saharan Africa, some species of the genus Graphiurus are found isolated; in Europe they are distributed to southern Scandinavia. Most dormouse are forest animals, preferring deciduous and mixed forests; they can be found in forest-steppe areas and in the mountains, where they live at altitudes of up to 3500m. There are 5 species of these rodents found in Russia.
Lifespan: in nature 2-3 years, at home 4-6 years.
Averages: body length 8-20cm, tail 4-17cm. Weight depends on the type of animal, but does not exceed 70g.
Description
Dormouse is a small and medium-sized rodent, with terrestrial forms more like mice, and arboreal forms more like squirrels. The muzzle is sharp or slightly rounded (depending on the species), the ears are small, round, the eyes are bulging, round, large. The tail is usually densely furred, although there are species with a semi-naked tail. The coat is thick and soft, but short. Color depends on the species.
The fur on the back and sides can be from gray to buffy-brown, the belly and paws can be lighter or white. Long, up to 20 percent of the body length, extremely mobile vibrissae, growing like a fan near the nose, are the main tactile organ for the dormouse.
Character
Dormouses are very sociable, lively, active and social animals. They prefer to live in the company of their relatives, but at home it is better to keep them alone or in pairs. These rodents are very cautious and timid, afraid of loud or unexpected sounds, sudden movements. Hazel, African and dormouse quickly get used to people; taming other species requires more attention and patience.
Relationships with other pets
Dormouses that leave their cage can be dangerous to smaller rodents, small birds and lizards. Cats, dogs, ferrets and large birds are dangerous to dormice.
Attitude towards children
Dormouses are not very suitable as pets for children.
Education
Dormouses that appear in the house at an early age quickly get used to people, will expect your arrival with food and may get used to taking food from your hands. They can be trained to go out for a treat when called, but they most likely will not become completely tame.
Nutrition
For all types of dormouse, a diet that includes sunflower seeds, hazel nuts, pine and walnuts, melon, watermelon, and pumpkin seeds is suitable. It is useful to include apples in the dormouse's diet (an adult animal can eat a whole apple overnight), grapes, buds, branch bark, rose hips, dried rowan, viburnum, and dried apricots. In summer it is useful to reduce the amount of oil seeds. Forest, garden and African dormouse require animal food. Mealworms, butterfly pupae, crickets, chafers, snails, large cockroaches are suitable for them; sometimes they can be pampered with raw meat, cottage cheese and eggs.
Care and maintenance
Of the species that live in Russia, the most commonly kept at home are hazel, garden, forest and dormouse. The African dormouse, which is called the dwarf dormouse due to its very small size, is also well suited for keeping as a pet. The hazel and African dormouse are well suited for keeping in a cage; the dormouse can be kept both in a cage and in an aviary, but garden and forest dormouse are best kept in an aviary, where a landscape reminiscent of their natural habitat can be created for them.
When keeping dormice in a cage, it is easier to communicate with them, more convenient to observe, and they make contact better. It is advisable to choose a small-meshed, spacious and all-metal cage to avoid the unpleasant odor that permeates the wooden parts of the cage and various infections. Squirrel cages with a spinning wheel are a good choice for them, as these rodents have a very high need for movement. The presence of a retractable tray in the cage makes cleaning and cleaning much easier. You can use sawdust, dry sand or small shavings as bedding. In the cage you need to put heavy food bowls, a drinking bowl, preferably an automatic one, place various ladders, hollow pipes, a hammock, secure ropes and a wheel and attach houses to the lattice where the dormice will build a nest. To make a nest, you can offer them hay, straw, unpainted strips of paper, and small twigs. Every day it is necessary to wash food bowls and drinking bowls, remove leftover food; The bedding should be changed two or three times a week, and the cage should be completely cleaned and disinfected twice a month. Disinfection can be carried out by pouring boiling water over the cage.
Dormouses do not like temperature changes, drafts and direct sunlight, so the cage should be placed at a distance of at least 40 cm from heating appliances and away from windows and doors.
Dormouses are nocturnal animals and may disturb you with noise. However, often communicating with humans, dormice gradually switch to a diurnal lifestyle, especially if you feed them only in the morning and evening no later than 19 hours.
With properly equipped housing, dormouse do not need walks. If you decide to get the animal out of the cage, then be prepared for the fact that it can easily escape.
In summer, in dry weather, the animals can be taken out to the balcony during the day or the cage can be placed on a table near the house in the summer cottage, shading part of the cage from the sun's rays so that the animals can rest.
Dormouses living in nature hibernate in winter, which can last 6-7 months, but at temperatures above 10°C, dormouse can be active all year round.
Outside the city, these rodents can be kept in an enclosure, where you can recreate a piece of wildlife: make a bedding from moss or peat, place stumps and snags, secure strong branches with hollows, put grass and oats in pots, plant currant bushes, gooseberries, blackberries. Dormouses kept in an enclosure are less amenable to taming, because when a person appears, they hide in various shelters, do not make contact, retain the behavior characteristic of them in the wild, and do not give in to hands. Many owners are happy to talk about their observations of these lively, funny, active animals living in an enclosure. It should be borne in mind that all species of the dormouse family can survive in an enclosure during the winter only in a properly made shelter, built in the ground in the form of an artificial hole, well insulated and covered with a layer of sawdust on top. Before wintering, dormice gain 3-4 times their normal weight. However, you should carefully monitor waking animals: an awakened dormouse can eat a fellow sleeping nearby.
A little history
Unlike many other rodents, dormice came into the homes of animal lovers directly from the wild. In the 20th century, the number of dormouse began to decline rapidly due to the destruction of the natural habitat of these rodents as a result of human activity. Many species of dormouse were listed in the Red Book, and programs to restore the population of these cute animals began to be developed all over the world. In the wake of this popularity, dormouse first found their way into the living corners of youth circles, and then into apartments, where they feel very good.
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