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African Pouched Mouse Breeders

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Article By Russel Tofts

INTRODUCTION
There is no really well-defined distinction between mice and rats of the family Muridae, the term "rat" generally being applied to the larger species, although the two names are often interchangeable. This can lead to some confusion. For example, one will sometimes find the African Pouched Mouse (an animal about the same size as a hamster) listed as the Pouched Rat, but this is to confuse it with the famous Giant Pouched Rats, which are much larger animals and need to be treated differently. For this reason, I prefer the name "Pouched Mouse".

The prefix "Pouched" is accurate enough, deriving, as it does, from the capacious pouches that stretch from the lips to the shoulders, which the animal uses to transport food back to the relative safety of its burrow, but the name can also suggest a marsupial mouse (which is a completely different, unrelated, animal).

Two species of Saccostomus are normally recognised, but in 1986 it was reported that Saccostomus campestris should really be divided into at least two separate species. Being a "lumper", rather than a "splitter", I will demur until more concrete evidence is available.

VITAL STATISTICS
Head and body length 10 cm; tail 5 cm; weight 45g.

DISTRIBUTION
Widespread in southern and south-west Africa. Despite its relatively common status in the wild, it remains a rarity in captivity.

NATURAL HABITAT
Found in a wide range of habitat, including savannah, scrub, sandy plains, open or dense vegetation, rocky areas, and cultivated fields. It favours soft, particularly sandy, soils.

COMPATIBILITY
Generally solitary in the wild, but may live in loose colonies. Many individuals can occupy a relatively small area but only one individual is found in each burrow, although the burrows are sometimes in close proximity.

In captivity a breeding pair can ssually, but not always, remain together. Check them frequently and separate if bullying occurs. Signs of fighting include bitten tails and missing fur. Remove the young as soon as they are weaned at around four weeks of age, or you will find that the adult male will attack the young males in the group, and the adult female will attack the young females.

HABITS
Nocturnal. Terrestrial (but can climb when it chooses). It constructs a simple, shallow burrow, usually with two entrances and a single, enlarged sleeping and storage chamber. If it is unable to excavate its own burrow, or utilise those made by other species, it will occupy termite mounds, logs or rock piles.

SEXING
As with most rodents, a good general guide is the anal-genital distance (this being twice as wide in the male), although it is useful to have both sexes for comparison. In the mature male the scrotal sac is prominent and unmistakable.

ACCOMMODATION
A glass aquarium with a mesh lid is suitable. Plastic tanks, such as the popular Pen-PalT range, are also useful, but generally are not very large and should perhaps be used only as temporary accommodation. If a plastic tank is used, choose the tallest possible and take care to ensure the animals cannot reach the top or they will bite through the plastic lid withease.

Cover the floor to a depth of about 7-10 cm with a layer of coarse wood-chips, or a mixture of wood-shavings and peat substitute. (Not real peat, please, as demand is leading to the degradation of the ancient peat bogs; try Coir fibre, available from leading garden centres, instead as it looks and feels very similar but is more environmentally friendly.) Furnish the cage with tubes, rocks and a suitable sleeping/nesting box.

A sand-bath, filled with good-quality Chinchilla dust, given once a week is probably not essential but will help to keep the animals' exceedingly fine fur in good order.

DIET
In the wild Pouched Mice forage for seeds, berries, wild fruits, acacia nuts, and occasionally insects. Particularly in the more southerly part of its range, it is are known to accumulate seeds during the summer for use in the winter. Keep an eye on the food store and remove most of it if the store becomes too large, but do not remove all of it as rodents can get quite distressed if they suspect their larder has been "burgled".

In captivity Pouched Mice thrive on a diet of standard rodent mixture, bird seeds and millet sprays, supplemented two or three times a week with a small quantity of fruit or vegetables. Seeding grasses and weeds are a welcome addition to the diet, but make sure you collect from an uncontaminated source (i.e. where no chemical sprays have been used; collecting from roadside verges is equally hazardous because of toxic emissions from motor vehicles). A few mealworms or waxmoth larvae can be given once a week. Fresh hay is used for eating and nesting. Clean, fresh drinking water must be available at all times.

HANDLING
A delight to handle. A refreshing change to have a rodent which is not disposed to bite. It is slow-moving, one might even say sluggish, and easy to catch by hand.

REPRODUCTION
Under favourable conditions, Pouched Mice breed throughout the year, but breeding tends to peak in the summer months. In the wild this would coincide with the wet season when food is most abundant. The gestation period is 20 days. Litter size 2-4, but occasionally can be as many as 10. The young, each weighing less than 3 grams, are fully furred at birth, or soon thereafter.

LONGEVITY
The maximum recorded longevity is 2 years 9 months, but, as more specimens of this unusual species are kept in captivity, this figure will probably be surpassed.

About The Author
I have been keen on natural history since early childhood and kept a wide variety of animals as "pets". After leaving school, I worked as a zoo-keeper for several years until an inheritance at the age of 21 enabled me to start my own pet shop and animal care centre, where I could indulge my interest for more unusual species. Increasingly I found I could not bring myself to sell all the animals I stocked and, after 7 years, the shop closed. I have also worked – briefly – for the National Trust, English Heritage, the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, and the Cambridge Newspapers Group, as well as finding time to teach animal care at the then Cambridgeshire College of Agriculture & Horticulture.

In 1997 I was appointed manager of the small animal department in a major pet superstore, with carte blanche over new developments within the department, a position I held for nearly three years during which time it boasted the largest and most comprehensive collection of small mammals to be found in any British pet shop. The following year I realised a lifelong ambition by seeing animals in their natural habitat in Africa, the subject of my first book, "Kenkay and Colobus - a tourist in ghana"..

I am an active member of various zoological and conservation organisations including the Rodent & Lagomorph Taxon Advisory Group (TAG), the EEP for the Edward's Pheasant, Independent Zoo Enthusiasts' Society, National Association of Private Animal Keepers (NAPAK), and the Association of British Wild Animal Keepers (ABWAK). I have contributed articles to a variety of magazines, including the International Zoo News, and have appeared on television and radio. in 1999 I launched the Rodent Appreciation Group, for anyone interested in the Order Rodentia, particularly the rarer or more unusual species.