Acacia Rat pups
Hi,
I am lucky enough to have some Acacia Rats. These beautiful creatures can become as tame and interactive as a Fancy Rat, and are amazing creatures to keep. They are very intelligent and inquisitive beasties.
As their name suggests Acacia Rats are often found living in and around Acacia trees. In the wild Acacia Rats are found in Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Malawi and Kenya.
Acacia Rats are seasonal breeders in the wild and in captivity they seem to start breeding around February. Acacia Rat litters are small (three on average) and Acacia Rat mothers often just have a single pup in a litter.
One of my Acacia Rat pairs, Amara and Mosi, have recently had a couple of litters. On 21st April Amara gave birth to a single pup. This pup turned out to be female. Nia the pup is gorgeous, very tame and very cheeky!!!
On 17th May Amara gave birth to a litter of three. To my suprise one of the pups is a banded pup. Banded Acacia Rats have been bred in Germany. However, although there may well be others, I only know of one other banded Acacia Rat pup that has appeared in a litter in the UK.
The banded colour is a recessive colour and the German breeders have been working with it for some time. The white bands can vary as much as the banded markings in Syrian Hamsters and can vary from a narrow or broken band to a wide or clear band. It's quite a striking colour.
It's early days for Amara's babies (Acacia Rats are weaned at around 30 days), but so far Amara is being a wonderful mum. If all goes well with her three new babies Amara's pups (and Nia her older daughter) will stay with me and join the other Acacia Rats as treasured members of my rodent family.
Attached are some pictures of Amara, Mosi, their older daughter Nia and their new babies and a picture of Masai, a male pup born in February to another pair - Ash and Akili.
Heather.
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