African Pygmy Dormouse

The Latin name here is „Graphiurus spec.“ because the different species of this genus are extremly looking alike, so it is difficult to say which species is kept in the households.

Unfortunately, it is only little known about wild pygmy dormice.
The strictly nocturnal rodents with brown to gray fur live almost exclusively in the canopy of forests, or (in the southern and eastern Africa) in higher rock niches along creeks and rivers. In Cameroon, you sometimes find it in nests of spiders. But they rarely come down to the ground.
The home range of a dormice group, which can embrace up to 15 individuals, has the size of several acres, which they browse in the night for fruits, nuts and seeds and insects, bird eggs, birds and small mammals. In very dense forests they also leave their nests during daytime. While looking for food, the home range of the group is marked particularly by the males.
The little dormice spent the day sleeping soundly in holes of a tree or in a hollow log. If they don’t find any holes, they will will build nests in the trees.
They are perfectly fitted to a life on the trees. With spezial glands on their paws an sharp, hooked claws, they climb on nearly every surface. In addition, they are able to jump as far as one meter.
It is still unclear whether or not wild pygmy dormice hibernate or not. At low temperatures and / or lack of food an immobility and low body temperatures were observed, which seem to help the rodent saving energy. In this condition the dormouse can even be considered to be dead!
The 2 to 10 pups are born from January to May.

African pygmy dormice have a head - trunk length of 6 – 12 cm, a tail of 5 – 10 cm and a weight of 18 – 32 g. Because of their small size they are calles „pygmy“ dormice.
These dormice have grey or greyish-brown fur on the top and a pretty bright on the underside. The bushy tail is used for jumping. it helps to stabilize and to navigate wihle flying through the air. At times, it is also used as a fifth leg.
The relatively big eyes mark them as nocturnal rodents. And their dark mask makes the eyes look even larger. The large, round ears are excessively used by the dormouse to locate the prey. The flat skull allows the small rodents to push themselves even through very small gaps.
The small rodents also have a very wide repertoire of different sounds, ranging from a lively twittering to surprisingly loud cries when they quarrel over food.

African pygmy dormice are very droll pets. However, you should first figure out whether you can stand the disadvantages of these animals. They produce relatively large amounts of very soft excrements, so that the enclosure must be cleaned fairly often. Depending on the feeding they have a more or less strong odour. So you should t find out first whether you could stand this particular scent or not.
For keepers who aren’t bothered by these facts, pygmy dormice might be very interesting pets to observe and you can do a lot of handycrafts for them. Moreover, if you are patient enough the small rodents might get quite tame and take food from your hand. But be ware: They don’t like to be touched!
The extremely agile pygmy dormice don’t make suitable pets for children!

Pygmy dormice are no cuddly toys at all. They don’t like to be touched let alone to be picked up by hand. Moreover, they are very agile. That makes handling a bit difficult. Don’t clutch these animals by the tail! The skin can be easily pulled off completely and only the naked bones will remain. The remaining bones are usually removed by the victim itself or by ist cagemates after a few hours or days.
Avoid touching the dormice at all, if it isn’t absolutely neccessary. To clean the compound just take them out in the box or hole they sleep in. For the rodents are fast asleep during the day, you can do this without the risk of escaping one or more. When they don’t sleep it’s the best idea to put them in a pet carrier.
When moving them from one compound to another, you can easily capture the dormice with a small pet carrier or take out the whole nest (box) where they sleep in.
At the vet you can fix the dormouse by scruffing it. But be careful, the skin of these rodents is not very tight and they could turn around, if you don’t care and you grip is’t tight enough, and bite painfully.
When a dormouse has escaped, use a mouse trap or a landing net to catch it. Please note: Make absolutely sure that there is no open water / liquid such as filled cups and flower vases in the room(s). Otherwise the dormouse will find it when looking for water and will be drowned in it.