Yes, if more top-notch zoos have had trouble caring for this species while keeping them in better conditions then I doubt pikas could have survived in this horrible enclosure very long.
~Thylo
C
Charcut
These photos are from 2008-hmmm?
I'm not seeing it "filthy". This cage looks fine to me for a small animal.
this cage is included in the following Youtube video (by Devonvm) at about the 1 minute mark. You can't really make out what the animal actually is (it is inside that plastic box behind the nozzle of the water bottle) but I don't think it is really a pika.
Yes, if more top-notch zoos have had trouble caring for this species while keeping them in better conditions then I doubt pikas could have survived in this horrible enclosure very long.
I agree this cage looks horrible but that wouldn't mean they didn't could have keeping them alive.
I known several cases in which animals did very well in enclosures which in my eyes were terrible for example a friend of my kept a sexed pair of Brown lories in a top-of the bill aviary for 5 years but they didn't show any signs to breed. Other Lory-species kept in exactly the same type of cage did very well and raised one nest after the other but the Brown lories refused.
After 5 years he dicided to sell his pair to a guy which was known for his good breeding-results with Lories and so we brought the pair to him.
He showed us his collection ( very impresive ! ) but the cages in which he bred his Lories were at least quite unussualy ! Some pieces of wire mesh flicked together and placed in a dark shed were all he had to offer for the birds. With some bad feeling the Brown lories were left at this place and we went home. Later we heared that within 6 months the Brown lories had raised their first 2 chicks succesfully and were incubating their second clutch !
I don't say the Pica cage could have the same effect and I also would place them in a complete other enclosure but sometimes the animals themself have complete other ideas as we have !
Gerald Durrell also has writen some intresting facts about this in sevral of his books.
