Hibernation over?.. I had a lovely post with some nice pics ready to go, all about our nocturnal house waking up for the spring, but low and behold this weather has taken another turn for the worst, and our common dormice and bats are still in hibernation.
However, our hedgehogs and edible dormice have stirred, and can bee seen through the nocturnal house. In fact, our edible dormice in particular are very active at the moment trying to regain some body fat.
It still may take a while for the common dormice and bats to stir fully, but once the weather starts to warm more permanently I am sure they will be as much a success in there as they were last year.
Meanwhile, this coming Wednesday, I will be attending the annual Common Dormouse Captive Breeding Group's meeting to hear about the future plans and possible releases happening later this year.
Last year, with the poor weather, we only had one litter of four young dormice. These four youngsters have all successfully made it through the year and will be taken with me to the meet. From there they will go on to be screened, along with others bred in other collections, before their release in to the wild.
Thanks for this post- you mentioned that you only had one litter of Dormice last year- how many would they be able to produce if the weather hadnt been so bad?
ReplyDeleteHi Owen,
ReplyDeleteUsually our dormice have two litters in a year. The wet weather delayed ours from breeding till late, and there was no time for a second litter. A similar pattern to what has happened in the wild I believe... last year was not a good year for dormice!
Matt