Moonrats in captivity/as pets?

Thaumatibis

Thaumatibis

Well-Known Member
For those of you who haven't heard of them...

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonrat]Moonrat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

According to Wikipedia,
"In the United States of America, members of the family Erinaceidae are commonly kept as pets."
This is referring to keeping moonrats as pets, which really surprises me. And if they are in private hands, are they in any zoos? Zootierlistre has provided nothing. I would really like to know. Thanks in advance.

~Thaumataibis
 
Doesn't Erinaceidae also include hedgehogs? In which case, I would suspect that it is referring to keeping hedgehogs as pets which is quite common really and not moonrats.
 
Hmm... I thought so. But why would it be on the moonrat page, then?
Oh, this thread also includes gymnures.

~Thaumatibis
 
Thaumatibis said:
Various threads on Zoochat confirm that there was a moonrat at London Zoo! ......It was kept in the Clore ......The animal lived from 1956-1960, according to Zootierliste.
Click to expand...

London Zoo did, indeed, acquire a moon rat in 1956; this was the first time the species had been represented in the London Zoo collection.

However, the Clore Pavilion didn’t open until 1967 and the moon rat exhibited there (which I saw several times) was a later specimen received in 1971.
 
Tim May said:
London Zoo did, indeed, acquire a moon rat in 1956; this was the first time the species had been represented in the London Zoo collection.

However, the Clore Pavilion didn’t open until 1967 and the moon rat exhibited there (which I saw several times) was a later specimen received in 1971.
Click to expand...

Hmm... you should edit Zootierliste!
Do you know how the animal was acquired? Thanks.

~Thaumatibis
 
there seem to have been very few moonrats kept in zoos anywhere. Most references say maximum longevity of captive ones in 55 months (this is the London Zoo animal from 1956 to 1960), but in the 1950s and 60s Malaysian zoologist Lim Boo Liat kept a number in captivity for studies, the longest-lived of which survived seven years (feeding largely on fish). He wrote a 1967 article about them in the London Journal of Zoology (volume 152, issue 4).
 
Chlidonias said:
there seem to have been very few moonrats kept in zoos anywhere. Most references say maximum longevity of captive ones in 55 months (this is the London Zoo animal from 1956 to 1960), but in the 1950s and 60s Malaysian zoologist Lim Boo Liat kept a number in captivity for studies, the longest-lived of which survived seven years (feeding largely on fish). He wrote a 1967 article about them in the London Journal of Zoology (volume 152, issue 4).
Click to expand...

Thanks!!! I'll be sure to read it! Thanks!

~Thaumatibis
 
Tim May said:
The moon rat that London Zoo acquired in 1956 was obtained from the animal collector Wilfred Frost.
Click to expand...

Thaumatibis said:
Was it the white bornean subspecies or the black and white Malay/Sumatran subspecies?
Click to expand...

The ZSL Annual Report for 1956 does not identify the sub-species to which this animal belonged.

However, there is a photograph of it in “Zoo Life” magazine for summer 1956 (Volume 11 no. 2) and it is clearly the black & white form.
 
Weigl's Longevity of Mammals in Captivity has age records for both Bornean and Malaysian subspecies, as well as the London one (listed as unknown subspecies).
 
According to ISIS, Taiping Zoo (Malaysia) keeps a female moonrat (Echinosorex gymnura) at the moment. It's possible to visit the zoo in the night, so maybe there is chance of seeing the species...
 
GermanZooFan said:
According to ISIS, Taiping Zoo (Malaysia) keeps a female moonrat (Echinosorex gymnura) at the moment. It's possible to visit the zoo in the night, so maybe there is chance of seeing the species...
Click to expand...
aw, I wonder if it was there last year when I was in Malaysia and didn't go to Taiping Zoo!! (I didn't go because it was a bit out of my way, and I knew they no longer had banded linsang. I would have gone for a moonrat though!)
 
Do you know how it is housed? Fed? And the same about the London animal? By the way, I've been working on a zoo design. Would moonrats with tarsiers work?

~Thaumatibis
 
Chlidonias said:
aw, I wonder if it was there last year when I was in Malaysia and didn't go to Taiping Zoo!! (I didn't go because it was a bit out of my way, and I knew they no longer had banded linsang. I would have gone for a moonrat though!)
Click to expand...

She arrived 25 July 2008 so she should have been there last year.
 
DDcorvus said:
She arrived 25 July 2008 so she should have been there last year.
Click to expand...
so the animal has been there for seven years already?! Sadly I have been in and out of Malaysia many times during this period, and never visited the Taiping Zoo.

I'd be interested if devilfish saw a moonrat when he was there! (I don't recall it from his thread).
 
Chlidonias said:
I'd be interested if devilfish saw a moonrat when he was there! (I don't recall it from his thread).
Click to expand...
I think it may be unlikely the moonrat is still alive at Taiping. From devilfish's visit, mid-2013, no mention of moonrat:

devilfish said:
The zoo itself was brilliant. Some great enclosures, very clever exhibits, nice animals, good signage and it was clean. There will always be some things I didn't like but from what I've seen, Taiping is Malaysia's best. Mixed enclosures included a forest exhibit with civets, leopard cats, muntjac, binturong and two porcupine species. Another houses otters, terrapins, mynahs, mousedeer, blue-winged pittas, green peafowl and two bat species. During the day I found no trace of the linsang, banded civets, dorcopsis, cassowary or flat-headed cat. Realistically the dorcopsis and cassowary were unlikely to still be alive, but the other three were on all signage. It looked like the civet enclosure was being re-done (though I don't know if they're still around); Ii did catch the last red hartebeest though. lost hope for the linsang when I found the sign in a skip, and luckily the flat-headed cat showed at night just before I left the enclosure. Seemingly very shy, it looks like you may need to stand still for five minutes to stand a chance of seeing it. Still, my first flat-headed cat.
Click to expand...
http://www.zoochat.com/19/devilfishs-asian-adventure-308174/index6.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top