Prairie dogs?

[Mikayla]

Greychins, does he let you hold him and such?

 

[machuandpicchu's mum]

Hi

Hi all,

I have prairie dogs and have had them for years. I rehab and got my first one from the humane society. He was a total sweetheart for months until he went into rut. He was SOOOO mean. Bit me 2 times, once hitting a vein, then another time that almost needed stiches. Every book I have read on them recommends neutering them. I had him neutered asap and he returned to his adorable lil' puff ball self within weeks. My recs, if you have an unneutered male, get him fixed. Otherwise you will never know when he is in rut and may attack. There is a good book called, "Bringing a prairie dog pup into your home". I think you can find it at Brisky pet products web site.

As for them being one person pets, I have to totally agree. Mine chatter demonically through the cage when any visitors come over.

I've also read the ban on Monkey pox was lifted in 2008. As for diseases, mine have never carried any diseases that could be passed on to another critter.

All in all, I LOVE my dawgs. Oh and there is a website called Prairie Dog Lover's Burrow that is ok. Not very active but the website itself has some useful info.

 

[tati121]

Hi all,

I have prairie dogs and have had them for years. I rehab and got my first one from the humane society. He was a total sweetheart for months until he went into rut. He was SOOOO mean. Bit me 2 times, once hitting a vein, then another time that almost needed stiches. Every book I have read on them recommends neutering them. I had him neutered asap and he returned to his adorable lil' puff ball self within weeks. My recs, if you have an unneutered male, get him fixed. Otherwise you will never know when he is in rut and may attack. There is a good book called, "Bringing a prairie dog pup into your home". I think you can find it at Brisky pet products web site.

As for them being one person pets, I have to totally agree. Mine chatter demonically through the cage when any visitors come over.

I've also read the ban on Monkey pox was lifted in 2008. As for diseases, mine have never carried any diseases that could be passed on to another critter.

All in all, I LOVE my dawgs. Oh and there is a website called Prairie Dog Lover's Burrow that is ok. Not very active but the website itself has some useful info.

The 2 PD's are bonded boys and they've already been neutered. There is only 1 exotic animal clinic in the city so we already go to the same vet! Very convenient transition if I do decide to adopt them

 

[machuandpicchu's mum]

t-shirt

I'd say if you do adopt them put a t-shirt with your smell on it in their cage to help them "adopt" and adapt to you sooner.

 

[Laurie]

I would definitely make sure your landlord knows you are taking in such an exotic animal as well. He/She may not know much about them and might be upset if you take them in without their knowledge

 

[tati121]

I would definitely make sure your landlord knows you are taking in such an exotic animal as well. He/She may not know much about them and might be upset if you take them in without their knowledge

Of course! My landlord is super nice, he met Watson and basically said most animals were fine as long as they weren't over 70lbs. He has sugar gliders, hedgies, and a few funky reptiles so he's definitely in the exotics pet world himself!

 

[ChinnyMom]

your landlord sounds most awesome! )

 

[greychins]

Would you say that they're a difficult animal to take care of? I only have my 1 chin so I'll have time for more pets but I want to be able to give them (it's 2 bonded male PD's) a furever home if I do decide to take them. I e-mailed the owner to see if I can come by and check them out since I've never seen them in person, I'm very curious!! Here is a video the owner made of his little cuties![/SIZE][/FONT]

I don't think they're difficult to care for. Mine is eating rabbit pellets and hay, and the various lab block thrown in here and there. He gets wood to chew just like the chins, and that's really all there is to it. Mine seems to be doing fine, and I'm not doing anything special in terms of care or anything. Seems simple enough.

Why would you put an animal obviously known to carry diseases in runs with your chins?

The run he was put in was an empty run (we have about five 3-hole runs that sit empty all the time). There were no chins in that run.

In the 3rd picture, (the one beside the picture of the cage), does the one on the bottom have a cut on its face?

No, his fur is just darker (on both sides) in the cheek area, like in that "line" you see.

Grey, that little guy is cute as heck! Are they social--do they like to be held and pet? He seems to have very long nails and I wonder about getting scratched by them.

He doesn't so much like to be held, but I'll put him in an enclosed area and he'll walk around and climb up on my lap and he does like to be scratched. Just not so much held. The long claws do scrape, but it's like anything, if you're careful you don't get scraped. He doesn't intentionally dig in or anything.

 

[Riven]

Okay, that's reassuring, I could've sworn there was a chin right there...

 

[Megan]

Triooffluff-

Honestly I've searched quite a bit and cannot find anything about them being legal or illegal in PA. However with how we are with exotics, I don't know that I'd risk purchasing one. This thread repeaked my interest in owning them again, so I've been searching as much as I could for a straight answer the past day.

Sugar gliders are also up in the air. Depending on who you talk to they are illegal, others say they are legal. There are owners in PA that do have them.

I know we can legally have skunks in PA, with permits.

 

[greychins]

Okay, that's reassuring, I could've sworn there was a chin right there...

I got in two chins and the prairie dog at the same time, because they had been living together at their previous home. When I put them in the runs, one in each, the one hole was open, which I had not realized... so one of the chins got into the run. Hence what you see in the pic. I would never intentionally harm any of my chins or my rescues, and I don't condone species living together the way the previous owner had them... but the chin in the pic was one of the rescues that came in with the prairie dog so I'm pretty sure if the prairie dog was going to pass something off to the chin, the chin already got it from living with the pd in the same cage for the last two years. Regardless, we were able to get the chin back into her hole and close it right after we noticed she wasn't in the hole, so that pic is really the only time the chin was in the run. And notice the sleeping pd - I think she's safe. :thumbsup:

 

[Pop Alexandra]

He doesn't so much like to be held, but I'll put him in an enclosed area and he'll walk around and climb up on my lap and he does like to be scratched. Just not so much held. The long claws do scrape, but it's like anything, if you're careful you don't get scraped. He doesn't intentionally dig in or anything.

That sums up my experience with them. Not big fans of being moved around, but they do enjoy some quality scratches.
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Alexandra from Cargolution