Deadly little buggers, they are.
One of only two native mammals that can be kept in NSW (I would prefer to keep feather gliders, but can't).
I understand that they smell a bit rodenty, though not as bad as mice and rats, which is part of the reason that I didn't get them at that time. They are still available (as of last week).
Yesterday, a friend with a pet rat remarked that it's rodenty smell keeps the mice away, a comment I have heard many times before.
Has anyone kept spinifex hopping mice? Any unexpected issues or problems? Do they breed like rabbits (or zebrats), or are they a little harder than that to breed? Might they repel field/house mice?
I am thinking of making a hot and dry, spinifex-cum-saltbush aviary at some stage. The floor will be concrete beneath gravel covered in coarse sand, and the construction properly mouseproof. I would include paints and pictorellas in the mix of birds initially, with enough room to include some crimson chats and fairy wrens in the fullness of time. The SHMs are often kept in small terraria; I would keep them in a smaller subdivision of the 'desert' aviary to guarantee that most of the possible nesting sites and feed stations are protected from them.
Thanks in advance for experience/thoughts,
mm.
.