Well, aren’t these little characters something to write home about?
They are quite unlike any rodents we have had before, although they share characteristics with many – such as their nocturnal habits (Syrian hamster); sometimes living together but suddenly fighting (dwarf hamsters); digging their bedding everywhere (Mongolian gerbils); and LOVING live food (most rodents)…
However, doops do it with a new style – as they look so adorable all the time.
The Home Life: Duprasi Houses And Hides
Our doops seem to love nothing better than hiding in houses, huts, tunnels and tubes. They absolutely love to stay hidden until your fingers approach and them they pop out to meet you – sometimes front feet first.
These little guys love to bat things down first to subdue the enemy!
Drop in any food or a mealworm and they get hit to the ground before being snuffled up in that beaky little face and devoured. Quite often this happens while your doop is in reverse? It is so funny to watch them come out and back in like the cuckoo clock cuckoo…
They also like to go behind everything when circling their lair – they seem to strongly dislike something in the way of their perimeter lap and will squish and squash themselves until they can get behind it. So, everything in my enclosures is a doops-width away from the sides to keep them happy and active.
If you think about it – it gives them more space to use inside the enclosure rather than shoving things in corners the way us humans seem to prefer and cutting off walking routes. We are transferring this to all my other rodents too – no longer will we impose our order onto them!
Exercise Routine: Duprasi Playtime
They just love running in those wheels! We give ours all the 20cm wheels to satiate their appetite for endless movement when they are awake all night. They just run and run and run and run some more.
We wonder what they would get up to if they didn’t have the wheels – poor things – it must drive them nuts?
They also like moving all their bedding around all over the place – like Syrian hamsters – so they have the biggest nest possible – and we put in a lovely big piece of cork tunnel for our older man and he just chewed though it like a steam train – in two nights the whole things was gone. Well, he enjoyed himself we suppose.
He also has the weird habit of knoocking his wheel over and running in it on its side – so the back of the wheel to the floor and he curves round to the right and runs flat? Whatever takes your fancy we say?
Beauty Regime: Duprasi Dust, Ash Or Sand Bath
These little guys just love a dust bath – or a shavings bath. By this we mean, with all our doops obsessive digging and bedding moving, they create little shallow areas of wood shaving ‘dust’ and they just love to roll around in it – even if it is crammed behind a house, or between the legs of the wheel?
They toss and turn, trying to get themselves coated with the dust they have created – and end up all lovely a smooth looking. Which is great, as sometimes they can look rather greasy with their coat all divided into clumps.
We love a smooth duprasi, they look like a pair of new slippers or a cute tiny teddy bear….
Musical Talents: Is Your Duprasi Making Noises
Duprasi are very vocal when they want to be – they love a bit of squeaking and squawking they do.
Whether they don’t want to come out of their house or tunnel, whether they weren’t planning on being woken up, or you startle them – they rear up on their hind legs and start chirping away – especially the young ones.
Pups and newly-homed duprasi will no doubt chirrup at a lot of things – including giant pieces of carrot and mealworms – but they don’t mean anything by it. These noises are very similar to their foot batting – all very harmless – but must work wonders with intruders in the burrow – and all sorts of bugs and predators in the wild.
We are sure a continued squawking and being hit in the face repeatedly while crawling into a dark hole for a sleep would be enough to put off any unsuspecting grasshopper or beetle in their native habitat.
We would certainly go find another hole. You ain’t going to get much sleep in there!
Night-time Habits: Are Duprasi Nocturnal?
Duprasi are nocturnal – and you should expect a lot of noise overnight as they are very active between 9pm and 8am – however, they are equally amenable if you wake them up during the day.
They seem to appear during daylight quite a lot – inbetween naps – and are easy to handle once awake. Infact, pet doops don’t seem to be bothered by giant hands at any time really – they are super relaxed all around really (apart from the odd one of course, George).
Duprasi make great pets for cuddles – that’s for sure…
Cuddles All Round: Duprasi Are Really Friendly
Duprasi are one of the friendliest little pocket pets out there. They are very careful and cuddle-able indeed.
People carry them around in their pockets – literally – and they fall asleep in laps and up sleeves all over the country. In fact, they often fall asleep just about anywhere to be honest.
There is of course the odd one here and there who isn’t so keen on constant cuddles, but generally, if you handle them often during the week (as opposed to often during the same day) – and you avoid waking them up or carrying them too far in one hand – they will settle down and be tame in no time. Sometimes if left unattended or always woken up with unwashed hands – you can imagine they might not be too happy EVERY time.
However, often, when someone is bitten once of twice they start to handle the animal differently incase they get bitten again – but this can actually start a viscious circle of poor handling. The hand becomes more nervous and less secure so you can release them at any time even if they weren’t even going to bite you again and the animal becomes more and more worried that it will be dropped. All bad.
Be confident always, and perhaps start using a pot or cup to carry them about in to be safe on both counts.
