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Introduction

Shaw's Jird - Meriones shawi looks like a giant Mongolian Gerbil Meriones unguiculatus, but unlike its more common relative it is less likely to bite, considerably slower and therefore easier to handle.

Their natural habitat is coastal desert areas, which can be found in North Africa and the Middle East. Deep tunnels are excavated in the deep clay where chambers are added for food storage and breeding.

Jirds are still a very uncommon pet, part of the reason why may be their unwillingness to breed prolifically without some complication. I had trouble obtaining my jirds, so much so that I had to purchase three (2 female, 1 male) on a holiday to Cornwall when I live in Portsmouth. You can expect to pay approximately £5 to £15 each depending on where you buy them.

As far as I am aware there is only one colour available (shown above), although different shades of this colour are seen. A mutation is available where a white spot is displayed on the top of the head.

Sometimes incorrectly called: shaw, shaws, gerd, jerd, gird.

Feeding

Your jirds diet should primarily consist of a good quality rodent mix, which can be bought commercially or mixed yourself. Alternatively you could use a standard mix and add your own ingredients. A base mix of 'Harry Hamster' food is a good start to which you can add cockatiel seed and scotch oats. This appears to be a favourite, although all jirds have their preferred taste and the mixture can be adjusted accordingly. The mix should be available to the jirds all the time in a heavy ceramic pot, if this pot is not placed on shelf or nest box in the tank it will soon be buried.

Jirds enjoy a large range of food as well as the mix, these may include apple, tomato, lettuce but not much it contains little nutritional value and can cause diarrhoea, egg has a high calcium content, dried or toasted bread, but dandelion, Kellogg's™ Shreddies™ and Broccoli (high in iron) seems to be a favourite. Experience have shown that our jirds are not keen on cucumber, banana or dog biscuit, but as described above each jird has it's own tastes.

Some form of extra protein should be given (especially when pregnant), it can be live foods such as mealworms, complete dry cat food or small amounts of chicken. Dry cat is the easiest and least messy option and is advised.

Water should also be available all the time and should be dispensed from a water bottle hung from the tank roof or lid. A hanger for the bottle can be made from mesh or a wire coat hanger.

Housing

There are two main types of housing for jirds, firstly their is the wire cage and secondly glass tanks that are much more suitable. This is not just my opinion but also a fact. As described in the 'Introduction' jirds are burrowing rodents and that situation should be simulated to the best of our ability in their housing. Not only this, but tanks are usually cheaper, easier to clean, largely escape proof, and better at contain the mess that the jirds make than wire cages. A well fitting mesh lid will be needed to provide good ventilation; this is one advantage the cage has over the tank.

The next subject to deal with is size and there is one main rule to follow; the bigger the better. A 36" x 12" x 15" is probably the minimum size for a trio of jirds but would be ideal for a single or pair of jirds. If the tank cannot be expanded outwards and extension upwards may be the answer; a wire cage may be attached to the mesh lid to provide addition space. If the cage is made the full size of the tank the floor space may be doubled without using up any more 'shelf' space.

The tank floor should be covered to a depth of about a third of the tanks height with a mixture of wood shavings and hay or straw, the hay binds the shavings making any burrow they excavate more permanent.

My jirds destroy a cardboard box within a couple of hours; this appears to be a favourite past time. As well as boxes, cardboard tubes are used to chew and run through. Guttering could be used as a more enduring toy as it takes longer to chew than cardboard, but they will get through it.

Branches from non-toxic trees such as the willow, pear or apple can be added for climbing and for them to gnaw on (without this their teeth may become over grown, as with all rodents). Branches should be baked in the oven for about ten minutes to kill any bugs that are on them; obvious dirt should also be cleaned of before being given to the animals.

A nest box is a must; jirds can be startled quite easily by new sounds and people and will need somewhere to hide. It should not be too large (as they may feel insecure) but the again not too small (for the obvious reason of space). It is definitely needed when breeding; see 'Breeding' for more details.

Breeding

There is much literature publicising the difficulty in breeding Shaw's jirds. I have found that in a majority of cases this is not true.

As discussed in the behaviour section the female can be aggressive towards the male and other females, this can cause a set back but it can be overcome with some time and a lot of patience.

I cannot give a exact age to when jirds reach sexual maturity but other articles on this matter suggest an age of around 3 months for females and 5 weeks for males. My first trio were introduced at 6 weeks of age and the first birth occurred 8 weeks later. This means that mating must have occurred 11 weeks (about 3 months) of age. This supports the above approximation.

When the jirds are together either in a pair or trio, mating should occur within three weeks if mature. In the wild a male jird may mate up to 200 times in a single day. Mating can usually be observed so a note of the date can be made as to predict the date of birth. This will be about 21 days after conception.

The young are born blind and hairless, similar to many other rodents, but develop relatively quickly. They show pigment in the skin at around 2-3 days and show fur at around 5-7 days.

They should be weaned at around 5 weeks, but will have been eating solids since a few days before their eyes open at around 14 days.

Behaviour

Jirds should be kept as either a pair of males or a single female. Females are more aggressive and territorial than male and will usually fight when adult. I had kept a trio of 1 male and 2 females that had grown up together for a while but when the females had their first litter they began to fight and had to be separated. Keeping a mixed pair may be attempted with the use of a very large tank (6ft or larger) and many nest boxes and even then the result is not certain.

It is very hard to re-introduce jirds once they have been separated, but it can be tried. When trying to introduce a male and female, put the female in the male’s tank (first remove any boxes, furnishments etc) so she is the trespasser, this may reduce aggression on her part. Separate them if they start to fight. You can also try to scent both of them with an identical fragrance e.g. vanilla essence and then try introducing them again. When trying to introduce to animals of the same sex put them in a neutral tank at the same time, again you could try making them smell the same. I don't know whether the fragrencing works because they smell the same or because they get confused with the new smell but it worked with my mice. 

I have found that jirds are active both day and night making them neither exclusively nocturnal of diurnal. They do not like being woken-up and may bite if disturbed.