Welcome to our Bushy Tailed Jird Page!!!!!

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Here is some basic information about Bushy Tailed Jirds..click on the picture to the right to see more pictures of jirds. The bouncy bushy tailed jird closely resembles a giant gerbil with a fluffy tail. It is very inquisitive and playful. The bushy tailed jird rarely bites or nips unless of course they are really scared. Jirds have been known to live up to five years in captivity but three years is the average life expectancy. Most bushy tail jirds welcome cage companions but they treat humans like part of their terrain to be explored. For this reason they hardly ever sit still and don't like to be restrained or sit still in your hand.
Here is the basic bushy tailed jirds diet. We feed our jirds a home-made mixture which contain ZuPreem AvianMaintenance for Parrots and Conures, as well as H & J's Secret recipe by Sunseed and Hard Kitten food and Rabbit Pellets.  Our jirds enjoy grapes, carrots, and sweet potatoes which they recieve twice a week.  We also give them crickets and mealworms twice a week  as well as cuttlebones for calcium.   We use water bottles with a protective metal covering since the jirds tend to chew exposed plastic on water bottles which is harmful to your jirds.
The Kind of Housing They Require and Some basic background information about BTJs. Since jirds like to jump, bounce, and play we recommend keeping them in a 20 gallon or larger aquarium (We have ours in a 20 gal TALL aquarium with a two store cage topper that is made of wire and attaches to the top of the aquarium which gives them something to climb and play in. BTJ LOVE to climb and so they need a cage that has that for them also since jirds are about twice as big as a gerbil, they needatleast twice the amount of space appropriate for a gerbil.  DO NOT USE Plastic cages and accessories as they will be chewed on by jirds nor do they offer enough room for the jirds. The single species of bushy tailed jird (Sekeetamys calurus) is found in eastern Egypt, southern Israel and Jordan, and in central Saudi Arabia.  Adult jirds are of 3-5 inches in length and weigh an average of 1-3 ounces. The bushy tail jird does not have strong scent glands or an offensive smell.It has small pelleted droppings which make cage cleaning very easy and BTJ LOVE to take Dust Baths in Chinchille Bath Sand (You can get a box containing 5 packages at Petco for $5.99). Never get your BTJ wet if you can help it as they can get sick very easily.
Jirds For Adoption!!!!! Our Bushy Tailed Jirds are bred from three different breeders: ( Our male "Bushy" is from New York. Our two females (Hip and Hop) are sisters, who were born here in KS, through another breeder. The sisters' parents came from Washington State (Mother) and Canada (Father). We also have taken in a girl BTJ that was a rescue and she is now makes our third breeding line of BTJ. In 2006 our BTJ Line was extended to our friend "Sara", in Valley, Neb. who took Fire and Baby *who was pregnant from Spotty our spotted jird line* and she now has a nice grouping of BTJ there. Also in 2006 our BTJ line went to our friend "Mark" in Orlando, Florida to start a new breeding line as well. On July 6th, 2007 new friend "Randy" with Heritage Pets will be adopting BTJS from ALL THREE of our lines and taking them back up to Canada where he will continue to breed them as well.  HOWEVER WE ARE NO LONGER BREEDING BTJS OUR REMAINING BREEDING GROUPS WENT TO JO OF BLACK WOLF CLAN IN SPRINGFIELD MO, AND OUR OTHER GROUP WENT TO TIG OF HEDGEHOG VALLEY IN IOLA KS.
Contact Information Our e-mail address is starnightstarsky2000@yahoo.com.