Care Guide Reference

Black Tailed Prairie Dogs
Cynomys ludovicianus
North America

I think in all honesty that this particular species is one that draws close to my heart for their sincerity.

You are either a Prairie Dog enthusiast or you are not, you either love them or you hate them, but if you have a passion for ground squirrel species, then these guys do come in the top five. I have just recently purchased a breeding group, previous to this l did have a lovely pair that could never be replaced, but due to unforeseen circumstances and a tragic accident, they are now no more.

I have heard of many ways to actually house them, in European households a much favoured form is the large plastic based rabbit enclosure, where upon when not being supervised they can live there but when being played with and generally handled and under constant supervision they can be allowed out to explore their surroundings.

I say ‘constant supervision’ as some friends of mine had a few little technical hitches with their own p/dogs when they decided to nest within the walls of their flat!

Other formats of housing include outdoor arenas such as again the much used rabbit run, preferably the ones with a wire base, a heavy duty wire base should be used rather than relying upon the base that the manufacturer uses.

My own preference for my pair was the full metal jacket sited onto a concrete base, which in layman’s’ terms was basically a large metal enclosure comprising some 9x6x4, filled to the brim almost with hay and fresh hay being continually added every two weeks.

This summer l shall be erecting a much larger enclosure for the breeding group, which will number some 1.7 [1 male and 7 females]. This will measure 15 feet long by 6 feet wide with an overall height of six feet I have opted for such a size so as to encourage their natural wanting for personal territory. In the wild these territories are referred to as coteries and many coteries make up a township.

Like Meerkats who post sentries prairie dogs are no different. Each prairie dog has their own task to perform for the coterie.

Comprising a 4" deep concrete base, with 6 inches of heavy rubble beneath this for my own well being l guess and wire placed on top of this before the concrete is poured.

A breeze block surround measuring 36" height. On top of this surround wall will be a metal frame, which will be a further 36" of height with a solid sloping roof.

I know that the zoos and parks favour the arena styled enclosure with a top overhanging lip to prevent escape, however l am in favour of the enclosure that l have described above for better security for my location.

The internal environment & eating

I have seen quite a few external enclosures designed for Prairie Dogs and am quite content how to environmentally challenge my P/D’s within their enclosure.

The concrete pit will have topsoil added to it to a depth of 30", the bottom of which will not have any tunnels nor hide aways for the main reason that should there ever be a problem within the environment l will not have to dig into 30" of soil to try and retrieve anything.

All tunnels and hideaways shall remain on the top, as indeed will there be logs and large rocks. I will also include some ramps for them to walk up from the soil level to the wall on which the metal framing shall reside. The distance between the wall and the ground shall be no more than 6" so should they topple, this is a relatively safe distance to do so. Despite what l have heard others comment to, l have witnessed only too well from both P/D’s and Meerkats their ability to climb, although scaling down again is not so attractive.

I am in no doubt that zoos have a much deeper enclosure than this, however from what l can gather zoos and parks have also a hard time trying to keep their p/dogs within their enclosures due l can only imagine to their being no concrete pit?

Prairie Dogs are indeed no different to many rodents [nor other family groups] in so far as they are all suffering from Steve Mcqueenitis. In so far as grant them a motorcycle and l feel sure that they would not only learn to drive effectively but master jumps at a fairly early stage and treat the entire environment as a Colditz Hence why l take precautions with the actual construction of their entire enclosure.

Exploration

From my observations l can see that P/D’s love to dig, burrow and tunnel, so l feel confident [hopefully not famous last words] that their pit will allow them to wallow to their hearts content.

Every month l shall place in a bale of hay, which not only will serve them as a secondary eating supplement but also doubling up as a nester. The hay will be placed into both a position of convenience for nesting but additionally within the confines of a large hopper.

Not only will the hopper be home to a large quantity of soft hay but also serve the group as their main feeding tray.

Their diet has always been a relatively simple affair:

Basic Rabbit Mixture with additional supplements of sunflower seeds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, nuts in shell [monkeynuts] raisins with an alternate choice of either small puppy meal or in fact a mixed selection of cat biscuits.

I do use fruit and vegetables as well as seasonal weeds, but with the latter only feed in what you know and if picked from the roadside do ensure that you wash it thoroughly.

Dandelions during spring and summer months are a welcome tit bit, but l have found that they will take other weeds such as ribwort plantain, cows parsley [not to be confused with fools parsley, sticky willy also known as cleavers, chickweed, hog weed when young, but not greater hoary and mallow.

Fruit has included thinly sliced or cubed apple, tomato and pear with vegetables of celery, broccoli, Swede, turnip, spinach – but l find the best result from a fresh salad bowl with a crisp salad combining all the above weeds and nuts, and also mealworms and the odd locust.

A word of caution however to the over zealous – these are a species that can be prone to obesity and as such should be watched for signs of getting to large. Naturally they are a rotund little creature, but do not over do their feeding, and also ensure that they do have plenty of creative playing and overall exercise. And also remember to include items for them to chew, they are after all a rodent and all rodents love to gnaw.

General Behaviour & characteristics

These are by far one of the most loving little animals l have ever had the chance to maintain, l find their characters adorable. They have a communication system unique to them comprising little yips and barks, but beware when your male/s start to chanter, for it this sound that alerted me to my own male coming into his ‘rut’. A season that fell for me during the months of early December through to late February.

The Rut is the mating season and this time is when your loving little comrade becomes a beast from hell. Who can inflict not just scornful looks with menacing eyes, but his teeth seem to find a life of their own, and will snap at almost anything.

Although they have non typical rodent teeth in so far as they not shaped like that of most rodents, they still do have a slight inward curve and despite being flat they are fact chisel like, and with enough force and also with enough force during the rut can very easily sever a finger tip, or indeed a knuckle.

Foraging

During the rut l would place the feed in while they slept, and would also clean during this time.

Apart from the rut period, when my advice is ‘leave them alone’, they are an incredible animal to interact with, so much so as they love, no crave attention from their owners.

One question l constantly have popping up is whether P/D’s actually smell? Well l have never found them to be offensive, although l do know that they have a scent gland beneath their tail. But unlike the skunk, which has a permanent lingering musky smell the same, can not be said of the P/D’s.

With the prairie dogs being outside there would not be any smell lingering for any length of time at all.

The prairie dog is an animal that as previously written here craves attention, demanding of attention is perhaps an understatement. I know that with my two they were very welcoming of any kind of interaction and would call for attention, using a series of yips, small cough barks and the infamous ‘yippee’.

Once the group is set up and established l do not plan to alter my interaction level – although l knew my own two from the time they were but a mere 10 weeks old, this is an older group that perhaps not been interacted with at all and as a result might be more of an outward challenge. Perhaps a breeding group is more settled l do not know – but l will find out.

But as a little township they will of course rely upon heavy interaction with themselves.

I noticed quite often with my first two that they would constantly watch me at work with the other animals, you knew they were watching due to the tingling sensation your nape hair develops when you have a feeling that you are being observed without your consent or knowledge. Unlike the human response of turning around and trying to figure out who is watching you and if you are being noted then your watcher occupies their immediate space with anything but you, the prairie dog ‘just continues to watch’.

The main bulk of my personal experience came from Wilber and Sally and l found them not just adorable, but highly playful, affectionate and overall happy with their life. Their antics made me cry with laughter sometimes, especially as they graduated into their teenage years and they became more experimental and discovery of everything but the environment soon became all too apparent.

Handling during this time often resulted in Wilber telling Sally off, first in the sort of ‘you are my woman’ syndrome to the later ‘back off he is mine’ syndrome. When they were both picked up together and cuddled Wilber was at his happiest.

They are an odd sort of animal in so far as l have seen butch and burly built men, mutter like babies with their attempts at lowering their natural gruff voices to little squeaky noises so as to encourage the prairies from within their hay mound. This is the affect that these little creatures have on those that are willing to acknowledge their overall playfulness.

Prairie Dog Update

August 2006

Apart from the experiences l had with my privately bred pair, l also have had considerable experience with Game Park bred Prairie Dogs, there is no doubt in my mind that there is a vast difference between the two. Privately bred are used to being handled and observed and even scrutinised by those who keep them and make observations on how to improve the overall husbandry towards their maintenance. Whilst those that are kept within game parks are not used to daily handling, nor acute observation from anyone apart from visitors to the park.

Game park bred prairie dogs are in fact leaner, more adapted to living within their own colonial system, they live more of a separate life, more of a independent style of living. They are used to a differing diet frame and of course their foraging, exploration and overall defence system is much more instinctual in comparison to privately bred specimens.

Whilst l would never have given up the ownership of 'Wilber or Sally', l must admit, for the keeper whom is looking to own a trio or such like - even a bigger colony of prairie dogs then game park bred would be the way forwards.

An outdoor enclosure similar to the size written above or smaller pending your opening quantity would be a very good observation enclosure, and genuine fun for as l have said and written continuously they are a species of amusement and education to keep.

Game Park bred are not always social to the touch and to tend to squeal more and the thought or prospect of being handled does in no way shape or form appeal to them, but patience and tolerance to the species can result in familiarity with the animals themselves to your approach and vocal utterances.