The Dutch rat is smart, lively and docile, and it is also a special ornamental animal. Dutch mice have high reproductive rate, strong disease resistance, early sexual maturity and short sexual cycle, generally around 16 days; The gestation period is 60-65 days, and you can give birth to 6 fetuses every year, with an average of 4-8 fetuses. The newborn pig is about 100g, and it will eat and move after giving birth. Piglets are mature in nature, and a pair of rats can breed 80 pairs a year. The market price is higher than that of 30 yuan, but the cost of raising a pair of Dutch rats is not higher than that of 5 yuan, so the economic benefit of raising Dutch rats is considerable.
Edit this feeding
Dutch rats are easy to raise and extensively managed. It feeds on weeds and likes eating grass and leaves. With some concentrate, your weight will increase by half. In winter, corn straw, wheat straw, rice straw and peanut seedlings can be crushed and added with bran to meet the growth needs. The English name is Guinea Pig. Usually called guinea pig, Dutch pig, guinea pig, Dutch rabbit, pika and so on. Originated in Peru, South America, the natural food is grass, plant roots and fruit seeds, and it is an absolute vegetarian. The wild guinea pig is slim and flexible. Being kept as a pet by human beings for a long time, it has become chubby and popular because of laziness and lack of exercise. The meat of the Dutch rat is still delicious. I like that many people just crowd together, because living together in the wild can increase the chances of finding enemies. Will communicate with each other through a slight cry. If your living space is too small for cats and dogs, or you are afraid of being scratched and bitten, choose a small and docile Dutch mouse! He is chubby, clumsy and cute. Although it is a mouse, it is more lovable and docile than the traditional mouse. Dutch rats are vegetarians, have no special requirements for food, are strong and are not easy to get sick. It's very clever. If you are kind to it, it will recognize you and play with you. The size is moderate, not too small like a mouse or too big like a rabbit, and it is more suitable for playing in the hand (15 ~ 20 cm or so). It's clumsy and cute, unlike a squirrel. Once it escapes, it can't be caught. Very suitable for children or the elderly. Its price is not high, and it doesn't need professional feeding equipment. As long as a cage of the right size is prepared, fresh water and food are supplied every day, and it is often played with and its nest is cleaned regularly, it can grow healthily and happily. When it is ripe, it will come out to meet you when you come home from school, and it will run to you to ask for food. The life span of Dutch rats can be as long as 10 years, so you must be mentally prepared before raising them. Make sure that no other animals in your house will hurt it, such as cats and dogs. Water and food must be supplied every day, and its excrement will stink, and sometimes it will make a noise and bite. If you can accept this, let's learn about guinea pigs.
tooth
There are two teeth (front teeth) in front of the mouth, which are mainly used to cut off food. The front teeth grow very fast, so you must chew food with high fiber content often, otherwise you will not be able to eat because the front teeth grow too long.
glass container
If it is too late to prepare a nest for it when you buy it, you can find a box (wood or plastic or even a cardboard box) and put some clean rags in it. Because newspaper ink is not good for small animals, it is best not to use it. This box is only temporary, because when it adapts to the environment and gets bolder, it will start grinding its teeth with the box and maybe even slip out. So you must prepare a suitable strong box to make a nest for it. You can buy boxes for keeping small animals or special boxes for keeping Dutch rats in the market. In the past, the feeding box was divided into two layers, with a tray at the bottom and barbed wire in the middle. The advantage is that it is convenient to clean, but the disadvantage is that the feet of Dutch rats are easily entangled in iron wires and cause injuries. The special feeding box for rats has only one floor, which is slightly larger and has an opening at the top. When feeding with it, the inside must be covered with sawdust. , so that the activities of rats are convenient. The disadvantage is that the excrement is not easy to clean, and the padding must be cleaned and replaced frequently. Pay attention to the feeding box as large as possible, otherwise you will get fat because you don't get enough exercise, and even cause mental stress and other problems. This is especially true when multiple animals are raised. Store away from cats and dogs, avoid direct sunlight, wind and rain, and pay attention to ventilation.
Food basin
Avoid choosing plastic or other materials that will be chewed. Should choose ceramic or stainless steel texture, a certain weight is not easy to be knocked over.
drink water
In order to keep the feeding box dry, it is recommended to use a drinking fountain in the form of licking.
cushion
The function of padding is to absorb the moisture and peculiar smell of excrement, which makes the Dutch rats feel comfortable. You can choose sawdust, sawdust, hay, rags, etc. Cat litter is also a good choice, and paper chopped with a shredder is also a good choice.
type
If you want to breed, you can have a pair, or a male and two females. The gestation period of Dutch rats is about 60 ~ 70 days. Young rats are born with teeth and fur, their eyes are open and they can start eating at once. However, it is suggested that young rats should not be raised alone within 2 weeks after birth, and it is best to be taken care of by the mother rats. Young rats reach maturity after about 3 months.
disease
The most common disease of Dutch rats is scurvy. Because Dutch rats can't synthesize vitamin C by themselves, if vitamin C is lacking in food, they will get this disease. Symptoms are joint swelling, accompanied by pain and limping. If you don't pay attention, you are in danger of death. The best treatment is to take vitamin C orally until the symptoms disappear. Adding vitamin C to drinking water has a good preventive effect.
Edit the variety differences in this paragraph:
The common short-haired Dutch rat is a famous experimental animal, and almost all of them have become synonymous with experimental animals. Therefore, it is more common in the pet market and the price is cheaper. The long-haired Dutch mouse, also known as the satin mouse, is not only large in size, but also silky soft and beautiful, making it a good pet for the family. In some places, there is even a beauty contest for curly-haired Dutch rats.
Edit the precautions for feeding Dutch rats in this paragraph.
It is not easy to find a suitable doctor when a small animal like the Dutch rat is ill, so it is mainly for prevention and treatment. Caution is better than carelessness. Summarize some things that should be paid attention to when raising Dutch rats. 1. Rats are generally fat and generally don't stand up. Many people sometimes like to lure them to stand up with food. Dutch mice will stand on their backs to get enough food, and sometimes even fall on their backs, but I don't recommend this, at least don't let them fall on their backs. It may not be a big problem when I was a child, but after half a year, I became fat and choked easily. I have had such a thing myself, almost scared to death, so be careful not to let their heads fall back when feeding them.
Edit this paragraph about how to bathe a Dutch rat.
Generally speaking, because the epidermis of animals has oil to protect the skin, taking a bath often will damage the health of animals; Moreover, the Dutch mouse can clean itself, so the owner had better be diligent in cleaning the living environment of the Dutch mouse, protect the health of the Dutch mouse, and don't take a bath often. What should I do if I have to take a bath?
Local cleaning:
Some people will take the method of local cleaning. Local skin infection is common in Dutch rats, and doctors prescribe lotions and other drugs. At this time, there is no need to wash all over. You can dip it with a cotton swab, wipe it with water and try to clean it.
Whole body cleaning:
1. The scientific cleaning method is to find a container, usually a washbasin, and put warm water in it, about 2 or 3 centimeters deep, depending on the size of the Dutch rat. Generally speaking, it is good to have some, and then wet the body of the guinea pig with water, because the hair of the guinea pig is very thick, so be careful not to dry it after washing. 2. Then use small animal shampoo. You must buy something nice and formal. Don't choose something too strong. The main raw materials are natural. When you buy it, you must go to a regular place and buy it from a regular manufacturer. If it is poisonous, it will be in trouble. Because it's not easy to buy a shampoo specially for Dutch rats in the market, try to choose a natural and green shampoo. Apply a small amount of shampoo to Dutch mice and rub gently. 3. It's almost ready. You can continue to wash the Dutch rats with the water in the basin, so that there is shampoo in the water, or you can wash it under the Dutch rats. 4. Then put the Dutch mouse in another pot. You can find a large coke bottle filled with warm water in advance and then wash it clean. Don't forget to wash the Dutch rat's ass. How much water you need depends on yourself, so maybe you need two coke bottles. 5. After washing, dry it with a dry towel prepared in advance and try to dry it. Then you can dry it with a hair dryer. Master the temperature.
Precautions:
1. The water temperature must be appropriate, neither too cold nor too hot; 2. The bathing environment and the place where the Dutch rats stay after bathing should not be too ventilated to prevent the Dutch rats from catching a cold. 3. When taking a bath, if the Dutch mouse is afraid, you should pay attention to touching it and talking to it to relieve the tension of the Dutch mouse; Dutch rats may crawl out in the bath, so the edge of the panel should not be too short; 4. Don't wash your hair and ears. Never let water enter the eyes of the Dutch rat when washing; It is not advisable to take a bath in winter, because Dutch rats are afraid of cold.
Edit this passage about the diet of Dutch mice.
Dutch mice like food best! Dutch rats are rodents and herbivores. If they don't eat, they are sleeping! If they eat too much, don't get enough exercise, or they are fed the wrong food, all these will lead to their satiety and obesity.
staple
Dutch rats only need three basic foods: high-quality granular staple food, a lot of ladder grass and water containing vitamin C, and some oats and wheat germ can also be added to the staple food. The following is the description of the breeder's diet on SweetWheekers website: 2 portions of Oxbow Cavy cuisine and 1 portion of Mazuri guinea pig granules. This feed is for Dutch mice over 6 months old. Each adult Dutch mouse was fed a cup and a half of this staple food. From birth to less than 6 months, young rats were treated with 50-50 Oxbow guinea pigs (mainly alfalfa) and Mazuri guinea pig granules. During the feeding period, the food intake of mother rats and young rats was out of control. Once weaned, young rats do not need breastfeeding or other milk substitutes. In about 4 months, it is necessary to gradually add the food of young rats to the food of rats. Let them adapt slowly. Rat needs fresh water every day. Water containing chlorine and fluorine is toxic to Dutch mice. Fruits and Vegetables Dutch mice like fruits very much. If you feed grapes, you need to cut them in half to make sure there are no seeds in them. Never feed bananas to Dutch mice! Because bananas contain too much potassium, it will cause urinary tract diseases in Dutch rats. The Dutch rat is a herbivore, feeding on all kinds of weeds, vegetable leaves, plant stems and leaves and crop straws, and a small amount of concentrated feed grows faster. Dutch rats are easier to reproduce and more adaptable than rabbits. After birth, they will be fed and grow into commercial pigs in about 60 days. The offspring of a pair of Dutch rats can breed more than 80 pairs a year, and the market price is about 80 pairs in 30 yuan. Breeding Dutch pigs has the characteristics of fast slaughter and high efficiency. It is worthwhile for farmers to choose some vegetables that Dutch rats like to eat: long-leaf lettuce or red-leaf lettuce, wrinkled parsley (celery). In addition, fresh lotus leaves are also delicious food for Dutch rats. Wash the vegetables before feeding. Vegetables that should be avoided are: spinach, onion, leek, potato, cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce (rolled lettuce)! ! These foods can cause diarrhea, bloating and poisoning in guinea pigs.
snack
You can give some alfalfa and berry snacks and oil-free raw sunflower seeds. These things are very oily. Be careful not to give too much at a time. Biological characteristics and anatomical and physiological characteristics of Dutch rats (some need to be understood. If you want to keep a Dutch pig as a pet) 1. The Dutch rat belongs to Vertebrate, Mammalian, Rodent and Guinea Pig. Also known as guinea pig, guinea pig and guinea pig. 2. I like to live in groups, with a big head, short neck, round ears and no tail. I have hair all over my body and short limbs. I have four toes in my forelimb and three toes in my hind limbs. I have pointed short melons, which will pinch people, so I don't like crawling and jumping. I can keep them in a small concrete pool without a cover. Habit docile, timid and easily frightened, sometimes squeaking and screaming, like dry and clean living environment. 3. The sense of smell and hearing is developed, and it has a very high response to various stimuli, such as being extremely sensitive to sudden changes in sound, smell and temperature. Therefore, pneumonia is prone to occur in the case of turbid air and cold environment, causing abortion, and it is also easy to abort when frightened. Dutch rats are herbivores, with well-developed masticatory muscles, very thin stomach wall and extremely large cecum, accounting for about 1/3 of the abdominal cavity. The demand for crude fiber is more than that of rabbits, but it is not as easy to have diarrhea as rabbits. 5. Dutch rats eat a lot and have a strong appetite for used food, but they are particularly sensitive to deteriorated feed, so they often eat less or waste food, and even cause miscarriage. It is also particularly sensitive to antibiotics, and it is easy to cause death and enteritis after administration. If penicillin is used, it will cause small intestine, colitis and even death, regardless of dosage and route. The sensitivity to penicillin is higher than that of mice 1000 times, so we should be especially careful when treating with penicillin. Contrary to the mouse, it eats less and has less activities at night. 6. The Dutch mouse is a late-maturing animal, that is, the pregnant period of the female mouse is 63 (59 ~ 72) days. The embryo is fully developed in the mother and has grown up after birth. The whole body is covered with hair, eyes open, ears erect and permanent teeth. Can stand and walk for an hour after delivery and eat soft feed for several hours. After 2 ~ 3 days, under the care of the mother mouse, you can suck breast milk and eat green feed. 7. Vitamin C cannot be synthesized in the body (liver and intestine), and the required vitamin C must come from feed. Humans, primates and guinea pigs lack enzymes to synthesize vitamin C. Therefore, when feeding guinea pigs, vitamin C should be added to the feed or water or fresh vegetables should be fed. Scurvy occurs when vitamin C is deficient, one of which is paraplegia of hind limbs, especially in winter. If vitamin C is supplemented, the symptoms will disappear. 8. The ear socket tube is sensitive and convenient for listening experiment. Guinea pigs are most sensitive to pure tones of 700 ~ 2000 cycles/second, such as observing the toxicity of neomycin to the inner ear with audio frequency of 2000 cycles/second. 9. Hypoxia tolerance is 4 times stronger than that of mice and 2 times stronger than that of rats. 10. Very sensitive to mycobacterium tuberculosis, Brucella, diphtheria, Q fever virus, lymphocytic choroid plexus meningitis virus, etc. 1 1. Dutch mice are easy to cause allergic reactions, and the "complement" in serum diagnostics is made from guinea pig serum. 12. The thymus of the Dutch mouse is located in the neck, between the mandibular angle and the entrance to the chest cavity, with two bright, yellowish, slender and completely lobulated glands. The liver is divided into four main lobes and four lobules. The lung is divided into seven lobes, four lobes in the right lung and three lobes in the left lung. 13. The sexual cycle of Dutch rats is16.5 (12 ~18) days, the gestation period is 68 (62 ~ 72) days, the lactation period is 2 1 day, and the litter size is 3.5 (/kloc). Animal sexual cycles can be divided into multi-cycle (multiple sexual cycles in one year) and single cycle (one-time cycle in one year). Except primates, there are obvious species differences in the reproductive cycle of all mammals. Some animals, such as dogs, cats, hunters, horses and cows, have this periodic change only in the breeding season, and the reproductive organs are in a state of atrophy and rest at other times, but animals such as mice, rats and guinea pigs usually show a cycle of reproductive cycles all year round. Dutch rats and mice, rats, hamsters and rabbits also have postpartum sexual cycles, that is, animals may become pregnant within 48 hours or at some time during lactation after pregnancy and childbirth, which is called postpartum sexual cycle or abnormal pregnancy. 14. The normal body temperature of the mice is 38.6 (37.8 ~ 39.5)℃, the heart rate is 280 (200 ~ 360) beats/min, the respiratory rate is 90 (69 ~ 104) beats/min, and the tidal volume is1. Oxygen consumption is 8 16mm3/g living body weight, blood pressure is 75- 120mmHg, total red blood cells are 560(4.5-7.0) million /(mm3), and hemoglobin14.4 (11-). Platelet 1 16000 /mm3, total plasma protein 5.4 (5.0 ~ 5.6) g%, blood volume accounting for 6.4% of body weight, 32 pairs of chromosomes, life span of 5 ~ 7 years.