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The Small Spotted
Genet has a body length of approximately 20 inches with a tail of equal
length. The long and lean body, sit on short legs, is yellowish in color with
small spots on its body set in a striped pattern; there is a white tip on the
end of it’s long striped tail. When alarmed they are known to erect the
hair along their
back.
We house
our Genets in an outside cabanas that are divided so that the males and
females can be separated when the babies are born. The cabanas are designed with tree
limbs and ledges for them to climb or sit on, and a self-feeder filed
with food available for them at all
times.
Each
section of the cabanas has it own box equipped with a thermostatic controlled
pig warmer covered with 3” of sand for them to have a warm place to sleep and
the female to have her own private box when she gives birth to the
babies. The
babies are normally born in the Spring and Fall, after a gestation period of
56 to 76 days, but have been known to arrive anytime of the year. The number
born may range from 1 to 5 per litter.
The babies
are pulled at 10 days of age, before their eyes are opened, and placed on a
bottle. After a couple of weeks, when they’ve adapted to nursing the
bottle, they are ready to go to their new home. At around 8 weeks of
age the babies will begin to eat solid food and once they are eating good
they can be weaned, but like most of our babies, they love the bottle and will take it as long as you
“want” to give it to them.
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