[t3h_s0ld13.-]

Anyone in here ever owned or currently own prairie dogs. My family used to have 4 of them. I miss our prairie dogs more than any other pet I've ever had (and we've had quite a few, especially exotics). They craved attention, loved to be held, and loved to run around our house. Nothing can replace the "yeehaw" greeting we used to get from each of them every time we walked through the door (or opened a soda can for some reason lol).

It just sucks that some jackass in Illinois didn't properly quarantine his prairie dogs from his Gambian rats which were carrying a disease and they got people sick, now it's illegal to sell prairie dogs as pets.

(not actually ours, unfortunately I don't have any good pics of them anymore )

[t3h_s0ld13.-]

I found a pic of our first prairie dog that we got when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. Her name was Ginger, we had her the longest out of all of our prairie dogs. We got her when she was just a pup. If you're wondering what she's eating, it's a mix of oats, plain wheat cereal, and some parrot treats that they loved.

[pbdude69]

Originally Posted by t3h_s0ld13.-

I found a pic of our first prairie dog that we got when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. Her name was Ginger, we had her the longest out of all of our prairie dogs. We got her when she was just a pup. If you're wondering what she's eating, it's a mix of oats, plain wheat cereal, and some parrot treats that they loved.

how old do they live to be?

[t3h_s0ld13.-]

In the wild, most die before they are 1 year old due to predators, those that make it past 1 year old usually live to be between 3-5 years old. In captivity they can live anywhere between 8-12 years.

Ginger was the only one we got when she was a pup and she lived to be around 10 years old. The second one we got was a male named Montana and he was already at least 4 years old when we got him, and he also probably lived to be 10. Our third was another female named Indy, she was another rescue. She was found on the doorstep of a pet store in a wet cardboard box with no note. We have no idea how old she was because they also thought she was a male when we first got her (the vet had to clear that one up). Our fourth was given to us by a guy who also had a dog, and his dog kept trying to hurt his prairie dog so he had to give away one of them. His name was Bently, and he was about 3 when we got him. By the time we got him, Indy had already died so we really only had 3 at a time. Bently only lived to be around 8.

Most of them died due to cancer. I actually had a few of my high school senior photos taken with Montana in my arms and he died exactly one week after that. I'm just glad he lived long enough for me to get those pictures with him because I might not have any pictures with him otherwise.

Sorry for the novel lol.. I just really miss having them as pets.