Hamster Gambian rat: a cute, huge rodent

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The Gambian rat is one of the largest species in the rodent family, but also one of the friendliest. Due to the large size of Gambian rats, they pose a serious threat to native species (especially nesting species) and crops, especially if they invade mainland Florida.

Origin of the species and description

Photo: Gambian rat

Gambian rats are found in central Africa, in areas south of the Sahara Desert and as far south as Zululand. This includes countries like Nigeria and others.

Gambian rats are burrowing animals. They prefer cool, dry and dark places to place their burrows as they are sensitive to heat. In their native range in Nigeria, Gambian rats are found in degraded forests, forest clearings and edges, coastal areas and sometimes near human habitations. Burrows are built near the roots of large trees, especially oil palms and the stumps of dead trees. They also inhabit areas near termite mounds, probably because these areas remain dry and cool during the rainy season.

Video: Gambian rat

This species is very common in the natural habitat of the Grassy Key area. They do not appear to live in wet scrubland or mangrove areas. They have also been reported in modified and developed residential areas. They may not need to create their own burrows in the Florida Keys, since limestone formations, trees, human habitations and trash piles are good substitutes.

The Gambian rat, also called the African giant rat, is one of the largest rats in the mouse family with an average length of about 1 m, including the tail. The Gambian rat can weigh up to 4 kg, which is comparable to a small domestic cat.

Habitat

Gumby rats live on the African mainland. They can be found in different parts of the continent, from the Sahara Desert to the “Land of the Zulu”. They live in different areas. Rats are found in arid desert areas. A colony of rodents can move across the African savanna. But most of all, mammals prefer forest areas with a moderate, cool climate.

African rats constantly hide from other animals. They settle in earthen burrows and tree hollows. In mountainous areas, mammals choose rock crevices as shelter. Some groups of individuals live in populated areas, hiding in basements and burrows.

Giant rats don't travel alone. They settle in a group of individuals. The number of one colony can reach 20 mammals.

Appearance and features

Photo: What a Gambian rat looks like

Gambian rats are large rodents native to Africa. They are wild animals that can grow to the size of a small dog. Gambian rats do not make good pets, but some people still keep them in their homes.

Gambian rats are similar in size to other species of African giant rats and are often confused with this species. Gambian rats have coarse brown fur and a dark ring around the eyes, unlike African rats, which have a soft gray coat with white fur on the belly. Their long tails are scaly and they have narrow heads with small eyes. Unlike other rats, Gambian rats have cheek pouches.

Fun Fact: The main physical characteristic of Gambian rats is their large cheek pouches. These pouches can expand to enormous sizes, allowing Gambian rats to transport huge amounts of food when needed.

In captivity, these rats begin to exhibit color variations. These changes include very fine stripes and spots on the shoulders and hips, small white markings on the head such as a dot between the eyes or flames, and changes towards completely black are also found. Their most distinctive feature, common to both domestic and wild species, is their two-colored tail. Approximately two-thirds of the tail is dark, and the last third is very pale or white.

Females and males are generally the same size, with little sexual dimorphism. Gambian rats can reach sizes of up to 910 mm or more, including the tail. These rats also have a very low fat content, which may be why they are prone to catching colds. A distinctive feature of the Gambian rat is its hairless tail, which makes up almost half of the animal's total length. As a nocturnal animal, the Gambian rat has poor vision, but has an acute sense of smell and hearing.

Home content

These rat giants are distinguished by their love of tenderness and affection. They are friendly and good-natured, and are also able to sincerely become attached to their owner. But keeping a pet is a lot of trouble. Here are the basic rules for keeping a marsupial rat in captivity:

1. The animal must be kept in a spacious metal enclosure.
2. The enclosure should be installed in a warm room with dim artificial lighting, without direct sunlight.
3. You can use sawdust, dry grass or wood chip pellets as bedding to cover the bottom of the enclosure.
4. Females and males must live separately. The only exception is the period of raising baby rats. At this time, the mother should be close to the cubs, regardless of their gender.
5. It is necessary to place all kinds of labyrinths, hammocks, etc. in the home.
6. Items made of wood and plastic should be avoided - the rat will chew them off.
7. The rat needs a daily walk, as well as regular games with the owner and frequent tactile contact.

Where does the Gambian rat live?

Photo: Gambian hamster rat

Gambian rats can be found in a variety of habitats near man-made objects or in the forest. Their hiding places are underground and usually in the most shaded areas to keep the burrow cool and protected. As an omnivore, the Gambian rat can survive on a variety of foods, allowing it to breed in a variety of habitats where small invertebrates or vegetation are present.

Interesting fact: On its native African continent, the Gambian rat is used to detect underground mines.

Providing a good, strong, large cage for your rat at home can be challenging. It's also worth remembering that even with a large cage, rats will need to leave the cage daily to socialize and move around. These rats can start chewing everything they see around them, so be sure to keep a close eye on them when they are outside the cage. The basic requirements for the cage are minimal: the more space the Gambian rat has, the better.

Fun fact: Gambian rats live for about 5-7 years in captivity, although some have been known to live up to 8 years. The lifespan of these rats in the wild is difficult to document due to the creatures' small size and because they are so often hunted by indigenous peoples.

Now you know where Gambian rats live. Let's see what to feed them.

Is it worth getting Dumbo the rat as a pet? Advantages and disadvantages

A pet rat can be a full-fledged four-legged friend. To understand whether such an animal is right for you, you should weigh all the advantages and disadvantages.

Pros:

• can be kept even in small housing;
• have a friendly disposition;
• clean;
• don't make noise;
• maintenance does not require large financial costs;
• easy care.

Minuses:

• without regular tactile contact with humans, rats may never be tamed;
• not suitable for people who spend most of their time at work, as animals need communication;
• cats and dogs can attack a rodent due to their hunting instinct.

What does the Gambian rat eat?

Photo: Gambian pouched rat

The Gambian rat is a large, invasive animal that poses the greatest threat to crops and small native species found within Florida's borders. Many endangered species are most at risk from the Gambian rat due to its ability to compete for resources combined with high fecundity.

The Gambian rat differs from other rodents in its ability to store grain and food in its cheek pouches. This allows for more food to be consumed at one time and increases the likelihood of crop damage.

Gambian rats are omnivores and are known to consume:

• vegetables;
• insects;
• crabs;
• snails;
• palm kernels and palm fruits.

If you keep Gambian rats at home, remember that they need more protein than their smaller brothers. They are omnivores in the wild, feeding on everything from plant matter to insects and some small mammals. Animals kept as pets eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, grains and meats, as well as eggs. A specialist should be consulted about the appropriate diet for a particular animal. Rodents also like to dig into the bedding at the bottom of the cage and store food there.

APOPO - it sounds proud

The Belgian Bart Witjens didn't care. He was so impressed by the statistics of deaths and injuries from mines that in 1998 he founded the Belgian non-profit organization APOPO (translated into Russian as the development of means for detecting anti-personnel mines).

As a child, Bart kept rats and other rodents, and while studying at university he learned about their ability to detect mines and explosives by smell. In addition, unlike a dog, a rat will not be able to accidentally activate the ammunition: the rodent is too light.

Bart Witjens with one of the sappers (photo source)

So what do we have? If you train rats, you can end up with an inexpensive, well-trained and massive army of tailed sappers capable of detecting anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. And without expensive equipment.

African (Gambian) marsupial rats (Cricetomys gambianus) were chosen for the role of sappers from the entire variety of rodents. Why them? Africa is their home. They are well oriented and accustomed to hot climates. Hardy and disease resistant. Compared to other relatives, they live quite long. But most importantly, they have an excellent sense of smell.

Features of character and lifestyle

Photo: African Gambian rat

Gambian rats are nocturnal animals, mainly because they have little or no tolerance for the intense heat of a typical African day. They are almost inactive during the day and come out at night in search of food. Gambian rats often use an extensive system of tunnels or hollow trees for their nests, where they rest during the day and emerge at night to search for food. These nests are often located in cool areas, providing more evidence of their heat intolerance.

Interestingly, Gambian rats find almost as much value in the act of carrying as they do in storing food. This results in intricate hoarding patterns where food is abundant at all times of the year. The pouches inside the cheeks of Gambian rats can hold more than 100 ml when filled, and this allows them to transport huge amounts of food in a short period of time. Some studies have shown that Gambian rats transport 3 kg in two and a half hours.

Gambian rats are also very good climbers and swimmers and can easily travel 2 meters. Both sexes are very territorial. Although Gambian rats tend to be solitary in the wild, females often form large groups containing many mothers and their litters, while males tend to remain solitary. These rats quickly adapt to new situations, such as captivity. Gambian rats are also known to huddle together when the temperature drops. Due to their low fat content, they do not retain heat easily.

Because Gambian rats are new to captivity, in a home environment they can be a little more unpredictable than other rats, and their temperament can vary from individual to individual. Although they can often be kept as pets, some Gambian rats remain shy or become aggressive over time. However, they can be trained, after which most rats become friendly and easy to handle.

Interaction with people

In many African giant countries, marsupials are valued as an important product.

They are easily tamed as pets. However, they were linked to the monkeypox outbreak in the US in 2003 and have since been banned from import to the US.

Ability to detect mines and tuberculosis aroma

These rats also become useful in some areas for detecting mines, as their keen sense of smell is very effective in detecting explosives, and they are light enough not to blow up any of the mines. The rats are trained by APOPO, a non-profit social enterprise based in Tanzania.

The method of training rats to detect mines was conceived and developed by Bart Witjens from Belgium. Training runs at four weeks of age, when the rats are processed to acclimate them to people and are exposed to a variety of sights and sounds. They learn to associate the clicker with the food reward of banana paste or banana peanuts. They are then trained to point to a hole with TNT in it by sniffing it out for five seconds. Then they learn to find the correct hole in the line of holes. Finally, the rat is trained to wear a harness and practice outdoors on the lead by finding inactivated shafts under the soil. At the end of their training they are tested: they must find all the mines in an area of ​​400 square meters that has been selected with the mines inactivated. This is a blind survey: their miners don't know where the mines are. If they succeed, they are certified as bomb-sniffing rats.

Social structure and reproduction

Photo: Baby Gambian rat

Mating in Gambian rats involves the formation of a social pair bond between one male and one female. The male usually sniffs or licks the female's urogenital areas before attempting to mate with her. Gambian rats also exhibit distinctive courtship behavior. The male and female will often stand upright and scratch each other, then chase each other until the female is ready to copulate. If the female is not receptive or rejects the male, she will bite his tail before courtship behavior begins.

Gambian rats usually breed in the summer. The estrous cycle lasts from 3 to 15 days. Interestingly, the estrous cycle is often irregular and seems to be influenced by many external factors, including the environment. Other factors include the presence of males and captivity. Females reach sexual maturity in about 6 months and typically have about 9 litters per year. The gestation period is approximately 30 to 32 days. Females are also very aggressive when giving birth to their young.

Young Gambian rats are born hairless, with their eyes and ears closed. The characteristic long tail does not show significant growth until about 30-35 days. The eyes do not open until about 21 days of development, although the young are fully furred and have open ears after about 14 days.

The female provides the most parental care, both as a source of warmth for the naked young and as a source of milk. The female also changes her eating habits before the cubs are weaned, choosing softer foods. The male, on the other hand, takes little care of the children. It is tolerant at best, and sometimes kills young individuals and eats them. This is not as common in females.

Caring for Albinos

White rats with red eyes have distinctive grooming needs due to the color of their body and eyes. White fur needs to be carefully combed, and in some cases the rat needs to be bathed

It is very important that there is no yellowness on the fur coat, because this is an obvious sign of poor care for the animal, which increases the likelihood of a dangerous disease occurring, which can even lead to death. Albinos cannot tolerate sunlight, so their cage must be positioned so that it is far from direct sunlight.

A rat with red eyes often experiences problems with vision, for this reason you should pay close attention to those objects that are located not only near the entrance, but also in the surrounding area. Any animal living in a cage needs regular walks in larger areas. Nevertheless, during such events the albino must be constantly monitored, because even in this case he may be let down by poor eyesight, such an ailment can lead to a fall from a great height, injury from a sharp object, or falling into the paws of a larger domestic animal, for example, a cat that definitely won’t refuse such a treat.

White rats with red eyes have distinctive grooming needs due to the color of their body and eyes.

Otherwise, caring for such rats is no different from keeping ordinary rodents, that is, you need to regularly feed the animal and clean its cage. Albinos look quite cute, but many people are afraid of their eye color; moreover, they consider it very dangerous, believing that it is a sign of a serious illness or aggressive habits. However, the aggression of a rodent has absolutely nothing to do with the color of its eyes and coat color, because aggression in a rat can only indicate the occurrence of a disease or the onset of puberty.

During this period, the aggressive individual should be transplanted into a separate cage. It is best to mate albinos with brown, gray or black beauties so that they have healthy offspring. Continuation of the species in rodents occurs without any special nuances; it takes a little time. If there is a female and a male in the cage, then the offspring will not take long to arrive. Already at 3-4 months of age, females are ready to conceive. In males, this age occurs somewhat later, however, by their nature they are capable of reproduction as early as 1.5 months, although this will negatively affect their future health, and the mortality rate of the offspring is very high. We propose to consider several facts about procreation in white rats:

• the duration of gestation of future offspring is 20-26 days;
• approximately 4-10 cubs appear in one litter, but in rare cases their number increases to 20 babies;
• rodents are born small and completely defenseless, their weight is no more than 6 grams, and they are deaf, naked and blind;
• Babies try solid foods for the first time at two weeks of age;
• Only after a month are the cubs capable of independent life.

If you establish a clear diet and divide food into portions, then there is no need to worry about the well-being and health of your pet.

On the market, the cost of an albino is practically no different from the price of an ordinary decorative rat, but finding a truly purebred and purebred individual is much more difficult than any other rodent. The fact is that such rats have a short life span, and most breeders simply refuse to deal with such individuals due to the increased requirements for their care.

Natural enemies of Gambian rats

Photo: What a Gambian rat looks like

There are no real predators that target Gambian rats in the wild. Although there have been a few recorded cases of a bird of prey or other predator eating Gambian rats, they usually gang up and are formidable opponents to potential predators. The biggest predator of Gambian rats is humans, the indigenous African population. These rats are considered a delicacy and are often hunted for food. They are considered quite tasty and are hunted and even farmed for their meat, which has led to a significant decline in the population.

Interesting Fact: Gambian rats are often used for experiments in the scientific community and provide a wealth of information about rodent physiology and behavior.

Gambian rats serve to control insect populations, but they also carry seeds of various plants when they eat the resulting fruits. Several parasitic worms live in the gastrointestinal tract of these rats, but the most common one is Strongyloides.

The study also showed an insignificant presence of tapeworms among other parasites. Other parasites include:

• xenopsylla cheopis;
• aspicularis tetraptera;
• ixodes rasus;
• ornithonyssus bacoti.

Hymenolepis is usually found in the rat's small intestine, while Aspicularis is found in the rectum and colon.

Vintage basket

Here we are dealing with a representative design in the style of modern rural fashion. Best suited for lovers of cycling or short distance travel on scooters. The basket itself is woven from flexible willow and equipped with an openwork wire lid, which prevents the cat from wanting to get out while moving. At the first glance at such a carrier, one is reminded of idyllic pictures from centuries ago, when food from the market was transported in a similar way on bicycles. The entire structure is conveniently attached to the steering wheel using leather straps and does not require much time for preparation.

The advantage of the option under consideration is, of course, its original design and originality. The downside is limited functionality. Although, if desired, the basket can be used for its intended purpose.

Price – 1,128 – 1,708 rubles.

Training Basics

Small and cunning Dumbos are happy to follow simple commands in order to get a treat. But you should not force the animal to perform complex tasks from the very first days. Start with the basics:

1. Get your rat used to being handled. This step is the most important, but the most exciting for new rat breeders. Do not make sudden movements, do not grab or squeeze the rat - it may get scared and bite you. Calmly extend your open palm to the animal and let the pet know that you do not pose a danger to its life. You need to devote at least 2 hours to this every day.
2. Learn to respond to a name. Every time you open the cage, pick up the rat, pet it or give it a treat, say its name clearly. Do not use diminutives and do not go through different nicknames. The animal must build a clear association between the sounds being spoken and the result obtained.
3. Train your rat to return to the cage. You should move on to this step when the animal clearly remembers its name. Open the cage, step back a few steps, give your pet a treat and call him over. Let your pet run up and take the food from your hand. Allow him to return to the cage on his own, and when she enters, say the command “home!” After a few repetitions, Dmbo will learn to come home and leave the cage on command.

Today it is difficult to surprise anyone by keeping unusual pets in an apartment, and more and more people are looking for an alternative to the usual cats and dogs. Dumbo rats are an excellent option for those who want to get a smart and entertaining pet that does not require large financial outlays.

Traditional plastic carrier

Perhaps the most common way to move small animals. Very well suited for long-distance travel, but in a car (and especially on a bicycle) a bulky plastic box is not very convenient.

Among the advantages, we note excellent breathability, ease of cleaning and maintenance, the ability to organize meals while traveling, hygiene, strength and durability.

The disadvantages are determined by the need to allocate space for storing this box and, of course, the outdated design. It is necessary to have such a device in stock, but it is not very suitable for short-term forays outside the city.

Cost – 1,146 – 2,137 rubles.

Electric models

Beginners should pay attention to more innovative gadgets. They are definitely a little more expensive

But in this case, the price increase proportionally affects safety.

We are talking about a family of rechargeable machines equipped with a rotating head. They do not cut, but grind down the cornea. With this approach, it is almost impossible to harm a dog or cat by catching too much of a nail. The high rotation speed of the tip ensures fast operation, and the low noise level does not bother four-legged patients at all. Any beginner can easily cope with such a mechanism.

Price – 481 – 1,859 rubles.

Some models are equipped with 2-3 heads, suitable for dogs or cats of various breeds and age groups.

After all, the claws of a dwarf poodle are much more delicate than those of a German shepherd. The same applies to young kittens and adult cats - their paws need to be treated with different elements. So, when purchasing a tool for trimming claws, you should consider this nuance.

Cost – 567 – 1,189 rubles.

The final touch is the rotation speed of the device head.

It directly affects the quality of claw grinding. After all, it is necessary not only to cut off the ends, but also to polish the ends so that the sharp edges do not injure the delicate pads of the paws. This operation is best done in a more gentle mode at low speeds. So a machine with gear shifting will come in very handy in this case.

Price – 497 – 1,566 rubles.

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