Observations on a Captive Outdoor Breeding Colony of a Small Dasyurid Marsupial, Sminthopsis Crassicaudata.

Abstract

In a pilot study, wild and laboratory-reared Sminthopsis crassicaudata were kept for 6 months in separate large seminatural outdoor cages in Victoria, Australia. They were fed on 10 g of minced-beef preparation with insects such as mealworms or crickets at 1 g daily and dried pelleted petfood (Go-Cat) freely. Not all animals survived, and the young did not live to weaning. Animals were caught 3 times a weeks to be weighed and measured, and failure to rear the young was attributed to excessive handling and disturbance. Otherwise, both stocks could have survived and lived under those conditions, which were more convenient than cage-rearing of Sminthopsis spp. as experimental animals.