# Local kids caught me a Gopher!



## Green Mantis (Jun 13, 2010)

They live trapped a gopher in Town for me.  Now I want to know, if it will make a pet?    I'd love to keep it for a pet. I know it will be wild for a long time, but would like to try taming it, given lots of time.  Anybody else out there have a pet gopher????


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## ThomasH (Jun 13, 2010)

Green Mantis said:


> They live trapped a gopher in Town for me.  Now I want to know, if it will make a pet?    I'd love to keep it for a pet. I know it will be wild for a long time, but would like to try taming it, given lots of time.  Anybody else out there have a pet gopher????


I assume you're refering to the mammal rather than the snake? Is this correct? If so, let it go pronto! You can't just catch live mammals and expect to tame them, most are bred for generations upon generations and are still nothing close to what I'd call "pets." WC mammals don't tame, time isn't even relevent. People just don't catch wild mammals and keep them. Very, very few mammals even make decent candidates for pets and those are domesticated.

TBH


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## super-pede (Jun 13, 2010)

I don't know about gophers but I've kept a mole before.How did they live trap it may I ask?

*S-P*


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## Green Mantis (Jun 14, 2010)

*Gopher*

They used a little wire properly made gopher trap, with a little metal drop door, that drops down when they go over it. Their weight sets it off.  I have heard of people taming BABY gophers, but this one was an adult, so got let go.  I wanted a baby. There's tons of them around here. Unfortunately people poison them in town.   Would still like to catch a baby though!


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## eelnoob (Jun 14, 2010)

I would suggest checking the laws and regulations in your area to see if it's ok to keep them first.


I have always wanted to keep a chipmunk though


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## pouchedrat (Jun 14, 2010)

check laws.  people DO keep gophers as pets (and you CAN buy captive bred ones if you know where to look).  

But what "gopher" are you referring to?  A ground squirrel?  a woodchuck?  both are available in the pet trade.  I personally have three pet prairie dogs, one of which was captive bred, the other two were wild caught as babies.  They're AMAZING pets, too!  I've seen richardson ground squirrels and 13-line ground squirrels as well available from time to time. 

I'd love a woodchuck someday, but I think my local laws wouldn't allow it since they're native, whether they're captive bred or not.

/edit-  or the true gopher, which looks really, really weird.. lol.  I don't think I've ever seen them before. They look like hairy molerats


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## pitbulllady (Jun 14, 2010)

pouchedrat said:


> check laws.  people DO keep gophers as pets (and you CAN buy captive bred ones if you know where to look).
> 
> But what "gopher" are you referring to?  A ground squirrel?  a woodchuck?  both are available in the pet trade.  I personally have three pet prairie dogs, one of which was captive bred, the other two were wild caught as babies.  They're AMAZING pets, too!  I've seen richardson ground squirrels and 13-line ground squirrels as well available from time to time.
> 
> ...


Darn, you beat me to the mole rat analogy!  I uncovered a gopher a few weeks ago while flipping over sheets of plyboard looking for snakes, and my first thought was, "a hairy mole rat"!  They've got those huge heads and ginormous incisors that look more like something out of a sci-fi film than a real rodent.  This one was a sort of gold color, quite different from the usual wild rodent agouti gray-brown coloration, and it didn't see that afraid of me, but I guess it just wasn't sure how to cope with suddenly being exposed like that, so it just froze.

pitbulllady


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## AzJohn (Jun 14, 2010)

When I was a kid growing up in the middle of the AZ dessert I found a ground squirrel. It was a cute little thing so, stupid kid that I was I picked it up and took it home. I some how got it in a cage and was feeding it lettuce and carrots, stuff I fed the family rabbit. When Mom got home she kind of freaked out and made us take it back. It was probably scared to death, but it didn't try to bite or even get away. Looking back I'm lucky I didn't get the plauge or hanta virus. I'd stay away from WC rodents as pets.

John


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## pouchedrat (Jun 15, 2010)

Actually most prairie dogs and ground squirrels that are available in the pet trade are wild caught.  in fact, it's almost impossible to find a captive bred prairie dog, since it almost never happens. I lucked out with one, but it wasn't exactly a PD born in a cage in a house, more like a warehouse. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uOe-ChXXmM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f2XLC1ctqw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxB8TWD2Sn4&NR=1

Spud'll be a year old in September, while the other two were born January of this year.  The video's aren't exactly OLD but they're MUCH bigger now.  Also, they play much harder now too, lol, and Spud's VERY affectionate.  

They'll be fixed eventually.  Anyway, ground squirrels can make good pets, but they tend not to bond as closely as the PD's do.


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## Green Mantis (Jun 15, 2010)

What the kids caught was exactly like your's!--- I love the way your's play! Especially following the cat's tail. LOL!  You have a great cage set-up for them. Is that something you made? Or can they be purchased?  I definately am going to wait till next spring and get a couple of babies!--They only get run over or poisened here!  I don't think there is any law againgst keeping them, from what I have read on other forums, about what is legal to keep in Alberta.  I didn't realize just how friendly they can get!  You have done a great job with your's congrats!


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## pouchedrat (Jun 15, 2010)

Well they do have some health concerns later in life so if you can find a vet who treats them then go ahead.  Alberta, Canada you say?  Oh man, they're VERY weird about rodent pets, just so you know.   You can't even own a domestic rat there, which I find just bizarre, considering how common they are and what amazing pets they make. 

Actually someone on one of my videos I believe said ground squirrels were illegal to own in Alberta, but I could be wrong. 

Anyway like I said, they're almost always wild caught babies in the pet trade here in the USA as well as overseas.  Get them young, handle them often, and in the case of prairie dogs, NEUTER OR SPAY them unless you don't mind a REALLY nasty animal during 3 or so months out of the year (they go into rut when most owners who don't get them fixed just refuse to handle them because they become extremely aggressive).  Rut isn't year-round, but it can change their personalities big time during the season. 

I always said I was going to get mine fixed, but now that I have male/female pair I'm tempted to just let those two stay intact and just neuter the oldest boy


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## Anansis (Jun 15, 2010)

pouchedrat said:


> Alberta, Canada you say?  Oh man, they're VERY weird about rodent pets, just so you know.   You can't even own a domestic rat there, which I find just bizarre, considering how common they are and what amazing pets they make.


Not weird at all. Alberta is rat free. No wild rats, no domestic rats. It's a policy thats saves us millions and millions of dollars every year in agricultural losses that we don't incur not to mention eliminating a serious disease vector.

Ollie


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## pouchedrat (Jun 16, 2010)

Yeah...... I think I'll stick to my rats, thank you.


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## Toirtis (Jun 16, 2010)

Richardson's ground squirrels are perfectly legal to own here...catch a young  baby, and they tame very well.


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