Dormouse snoring

Juvenile hazel dormouse in a torpid state found during nest box checks at a North Yorkshire reintroduction site in October 2010. If you listen, you can hear the high-pitched snores.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Hazel
• dormouse
• snoring

[RWPCreations]

You mentioned that they get this way when temperatures get cold. I'm guessing dormice aren't kept as pets but would living in an indoor environment alter their hibernation habits?

[csecology]

@RWPCreations Correct, they are not kept as pets, but people hold licences to rear captive bred ones for reintroduction programmes. Environmental conditions the mice would expect in the wild are mimicked as closely as possible to ensure captive-bred mice are prepared for release. That said, I would suggest if they were kept in warmer conditions indoors they may alter their acctivity/ sleeping/ hibernation habits.

[inkslinger4now01]

Why is it in a bag?..why don't you leave it alone!..are you studying it to find ways to kill them like everything else?

[csecology]

@inkslinger4now01 The nest box is placed in a bag for checking. The health of each animal found is checked, with recordings of weight, sex, age etc. taken. The dormouse is then returned to the nest box, with the box re-attached to the tree. This happens three times a year at the reintroduction site, which as you probably have guessed is part of a conservation programme. So, no, I am not trying to kill them - far from it.

[csecology]

Not always, sometimes they are silent. This juvenile was having a good sleep prior to going into hibernation.

[EyesLikeBroccoli]

@inkslinger4now01 Talk about a knee-jerk reaction! If you'd read the description up there I'm fairly certain the phrase 'nest box checks' combined with 'North Yorkshire REINTRODUCTION site' might have hinted at the fact this is a conservation effort,

[PillowLaces]

@inkslinger4now01 Dumbass.

[lunhil12]

Beautiful little creature.

[wanda543]

@csecology Thank you very much for explaining this to me. They are so cute, it would be difficult to not want to always hold them and carry them around with you.

[ChelxChelxChelx]

200,000 of these viewers are cats.

[fanest]

@csecology my mistake u are right, though hazel dormouse is also far from extinction. People used to have these hazel dormouses as pets i think, but then hamsters came and took their role hehe

[fanest]

@csecology my mistake u are right, though hazel dormouse is also far from extinction. People used to have these hazel dormouses of pets i think, but then hamsters came and took their role hehe

[csecology]

@fanest I think in Slovenia 'edible dormouse' (Glis glis) are eaten, not the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). Glis glis are a pest here in the UK, an introduced non-native, but people haven't taken to eating them, yet.