Well, you might be wondering what these little dudes are just here... Well they're Lemmings... Steppe Lemmings to be precise!
Although they aren't mine, they are my brothers'. As you can see they both look very similar, so they've still basically have no name... I've suggested to call them Bert and Ernie, but he doesn't know which is which, so they're generally refered to 'as the Lemmings'  

 

 

August 2004

As my brother went on holiday I was left baby sitting his Lemmings. Awww.

Well, I do have to say that they are quite dumb. They had a tendancy not to realise your finger was there until you were actually poking them. As I had to clean them out during their stay - water leaked and bedding was all wet, I had the chance to play with the little dudes. They were surprisingly friendly, and quite happily climbed up into my hand to have a look around and then, being dumb they would just like roll off it... madness. Got quite a cool video clip of one doing just that, and then taking a long hard look at the camera as if to say 'What you lookin at?!'

 

 

 

 

 

On a more educational note, I thought I would give some more information on Steppe Lemmings.

Steppe Lemmings are from the Steppes/plains, and so would not naturally eat things like fruits, it is also thought that they could be sugar intolerant and so fruits or food high in sugar are best avoided. Although the sugar intolerance has never been proven, as lemmings would not naturally come across sugary food anyway, do not give it to them, so for food give them a mix of Gerbil/hamster food with bird seed added in and dried grass - if you are unable to find dried grass such as redigrass then hay will do, but it is not as nutritious, vegetables such as carrots or broccoli are good and can be fed in small amounts or once or twice a week. Lemmings will drink a lot more water than that of a Gerbil and so also need cleaning out more often than a gerbil does as they do not need to conserve water.

Lemmings grow to around the size of a Dwarf Hamster, but are more long than round like that of a Campbell or Winter White dwarf - I would say they are very similar to size of a Chinese Dwarf though, both in shape and length of body.

The lifespan of a Steppe Lemming is pretty short, and generally expected to be around 18 months, with some living longer or shorter as can be expected. I am unsure on how well they live together in pairs or which sexes get along the best. I have heard that they can happily live in colonies, but my brother had a pair of males, which fought when still quite young with one being killed, I don't know full details. But as Lemmings are fairly new to the UK it is a learning curve and perhaps his two males fighting was a one off.