Bushy-tailed Jirds are found in Sudan, Saudi-Arabia, Isreal, Jordan and Egyptz around rocky, arid areas.
Bushy-tailed Jirds are a medium sized jird, a little bigger than a Mongolian Gerbil. They have a slender, but slightly pear-shaped body as their hips are wider than their shoulders. They have an elegant, pointed face and large dark eyes. Their ears are grey and sometimes have white hairs behind them. Bushy-tailed Jirds gain their name from their beautiful flowing tails. The most dominant animal in a family group has the bushiest tail. Their beautiful tails can be a little more than the length of their body and the fur on their tails is arranged like a feather. Their body length is approximately five inches long. Their coats are a rich light gold ticked with black, and the fur is soft, and dense. Their under-parts and paws are white. They have very long whiskers.
REPRODUCTION IN THE WILD
Bushy-tailed Jirds appear to be seasonal breeders in the wild. Their breeding season is February and March. In captivity they can breed throughout the year. BEHAVIOUR IN THE WILD Bushy-tailed Jirds are nocturnal. DIET IN THE WILD In the wild Bushy-tailed Jirds are omnivorous. They eat vegetation, seeds and insects.
DIET IN CAPTIVITY
Bushy-tailed Jirds require a diet high in protein and calcium. My Bushy-tailed Jirds are fed a mixture of the following ingredients:
- A premium gerbil mix
- A softbill bird food
- An African seed mix containing dates and
- Acacia seeds
- Mixed millets,
- Linseed,
- Hemp seeds,
- Perilla seeds,
- Small pinenuts,
- Black Rape Seed,
- Foreign Finch mix
- Dried mealworms
They also love gnawing dog biscuits, and destroy mineral blocks fairly rapidly. Mineral blocks are a valuable source of calcium and trace elements. They can also be given cuttlefish bone to gnaw on.
HOUSING IN CAPTIVITY
Bushy-tailed Jirds are excellent climbers, but I have found mine haven’t wanted to climb beyond three feet in height. My Bushy-tailed Jirds were originally kept in 4ft high enclosures, but didn’t use all of the height. I now have a female group in a 3ft long x 2ft wide x 18 inch high enclosure with a wheel, log-rolls, terracotta tunnels and a sand-bath. This enclosure is made of melamine panels with a Perspex front and two hinged wood and mesh lids. A similar 4ft long x 2ft wide x 18inch high enclosure is currently being built for the Bushy-tailed Jird males. Bushy-tailed Jirds can also be kept in glass aquariums with mesh lids and large Perfecto-type tanks. Bushy-tailed Jirds love to burrow so metal cages are not ideal. They could chew out of plastic based cages fairly quickly. I have used both wood-shavings and Aspen bedding as a substrate in the Bushytailed jird enclosures and both substrates have suited them. They have hay for nesting.
BEHAVIOUR IN CAPTIVITY
Bushy-tailed Jirds love sand baths and their coats get very greasy fairly quickly if they don’t have access to a sand bath. Bushy-tailed Jirds are very friendly, intelligent animals, but like to use their human as a climbing frame rather than settling in a lap for cuddles. They love attention and are delightful characters. They are very fast though, and can whizz around their tanks or enclosures, or around a room (!!!) at a rate of knots. They love using a wheel, and need lots of different toys in their enclosures. Bored or stressed Bushy-tailed Jirds can often exhibit stereotypical behaviour such as overgrooming, particularly their tails. Bushy-tailed Jirds are highly social animals and should not be kept on their own. They can be kept in breeding or single-sex pairs or single-sex groups.
BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY
Bushy-tailed Jirds come into season every four days and the females can live as a pair with the male. However, there have been reports of male Bushy-tailed jirds attacking male pups. The females have a post-partum season (they come into season straight after giving birth), so the male should be removed before the litter is born if a further litter is not wanted. Bushy-tailed Jirds can have an average of 3-5 pups after a gestation of 20 – 25 days. Although the gestation can be as long as 25 days, both of my Bushy-tailed jird girls have given birth on the 20th day.
I found that my Bushy-tailed Jird females were highly distressed by the presence of the male after the birth of their pups and I had to remove the male. Bushy-tailed Jirds are excellent mothers, but should not be disturbed more than necessary during the first three weeks of the pup’s lives. Too much disturbance could cause the mother to destroy her pups. Pups are weaned at about four weeks of age.
Bushy-tailed Jirds are slow to mature. They are sexually mature at about twelve weeks of age, but don’t seem to finish growing or maturing until they are approximately six months of age.
LONGEVITY
Bushy-tailed Jirds can live five or six years on average