Steppe Lemmings

Sadly, steppe lemmings have very short lives. R2 and D2 are gone now, leaving a hole in our hearts.

R2 left us on May 27, 2011, wasting away even as I fed him by syringe. He lived life to the full to the very end, passing away still running on his wheel.

D2 soldiered on valiantly as cancer filled his tiny little body. As our last kindness, hard as it was, we relieved him of his pain on December 4, 2011.

A while back I thought the boys were getting a bit chubby. D2 is still about the same, but R2 is positively fat! I present the evidence:

He's less interested in coming out to play, but you should see him come dinnertime! He leaps up to the platform I feed him on (make him put a bit of effort into collecting his food). The other day he got so excited he fell off the platform. He was back up quick. I don't think his pride was wounded at all.

R2 is a bit of a nutcase sometimes when I take him out to play. He has this thing about running up my arm or shirt, then over my shoulder and down my back, or around my neck through my hair, or even right on top of my head! I keep worrying he's going to fall, but he seems to know what he's doing. It does look awkward sometimes, either him or me, and sometimes both. (Click to enlarge pics.)

He's always up for a new adventure, so I try to give him new things to explore. Here he is in the sink checking out a decorative vase. Then him in it peering out.

I built D2's house a while back now, when he was younger and, apparently, smaller. The two front doors weren't big enough any more and he resorted to digging a tunnel through the bedding under the side of the house

So this morning I dug out the RotoZip tool and widened his doors. Really quick job. I cleaned the pee stains off his litter bowl too, so here he is checking to see what I did. He wasn't nearly as concerned about checking the door widening project.

When I take the boys out of their cages, they love to go for walks around the house, riding in my hands and looking ahead with great interest to see where we're going. It is just so cute! Selecting just a few pics for the blog was really hard. There are more on the Photos page.

You can see how small they are in my hands. I have small hands to begin with, and D2 just disappears.

The steppe lemmings are getting chubby. D2 doesn't really fit through the little doors I made in his house any more. (I scared D2 with the flash one time, so he's a bit leery of the camera. I try to avoid using the flash now.)

Here's R2 looking chubby too.

One nice thing about steppe lemmings is they're not nearly as hyper as gerbils. This makes photo sessions a lot easier, but doesn't keep them quite as fit.

In 15 gallon tanks they do have space to run laps through and around their houses in between sessions running in their wheels. The down side is they're less eager than before to come out of their tanks!

The steppe lemmings are really cute watching them eat too. They often eat with just one paw, unlike gerbils who hold their food with both paws.

R2 has made something of a mess of his house. I foolishly sprinkled sand around in it. That didn't stop his urine from soaking into the wood, of course. Some of the sections will need to be replaced. Since R2's house is built in sections, I've been putting the pieces together in different ways for now.

I have just moved D2 into a 15 gallon tank just like R2's. But here he is still in his 10 gallon, doing his "Let Me Out" dance (if only I could get the song to play on the video). He wanted to come out all the time! At this point I'm thinking 15 gallons is the absolute minimum size for even one steppe lemming.

(If video doesn't work here, view it at YouTube.)

With only two steppe lemmings, and those two unable to live together, we embarked on the challenge of making their lives meaningful while living alone. Social animals can get depressed living alone, just like humans.

Environmental enrichment was first up on the list. I headed off to the basement with our scrap lumber to see what I could do with the table saw. First, I made a wooden base for the running wheel, so it wouldn't tip over so often. R2 was most grateful. The wheel is no fun laying on its side.

Then I started on a multi level house. I left the bottom area open, with two tiny steppe lemming sized entrances, and that's where D2 would set up a very cozy little nest. An open area to run around on the next level, and two partially enclosed rooms on the top floor completed it. Surprisingly, D2 had little trouble jumping to the top floor, though steppe lemmings are not noted for their jumping skills. The house was a hit!

Our steppe lemmings, R2 and D2 arrived on February 10, 2010. So, since it's April now, there is going to be some background to fill in!

The little guys were just five weeks old then, curious and fearless, apparently remarkably well socialized. Turns out they're born that way. We set them up in a ten gallon tank, where soon enough they started squabbling. Into a 15 gallon they went. And we added toys. Lots of them. Gave them separate water bottles and food dishes. Still they had issues. Finally I put in a big piece of corrugated cardboard. As long as D2 stayed under the cardboard when R2 was nearby, R2 couldn't rise up in a huff, and relative peace ensued. They made a nest under the cardboard and slept together nicely. So far so good!

They did look alike, but R2 was always first in line to come out to play. And R2 was also the trouble starter while D2 tried to stay out of the way.

Then, February 25, R2 flew into a rage. He attacked and bit D2. I took D2 out for a while, until things seemed to settle down. Perhaps it was done with and R2 was his usual self again? He was, for a short time. Then he attacked even more vigorously while D2 screamed. I rushed to his aid (just my luck, the dogs were fighting at the same time). D2 was covered in bites. R2 continued attacking the mesh lid, apparently wanting to finish off his brother. Their partnership was over.

D2 believed I was his saviour. He'd look into my eyes intently for long periods. We formed a special bond. And he recovered surprisingly quickly from his injuries.

Now he was my bosom buddy. He now came out often, even more than R2, enjoying each new adventure, even if it was just into a sink, a bowl, or a new box. He loved it. He'd climb all over me, often stopping to stare deep into my eyes. I had not expected this from such a tiny animal. But what a pleasant surprise!