Horsfield's treeshrew or javan treeshrew

Horsfield's treeshrew, or Javan treeshrew(Tupaia javanica)

Phylum —chordata
Class — mammalia
Order — scandentia
Family — tupaiidae

Genus – tupaia

Appearance

They are small, squirrel-like or rat-like animals with an elongated body and short five-toed limbs. Their body length is 10-18 cm, the tail-14-20 cm; they weigh from 60 g to 200 g. The front legs are longer than the hind legs. The fingers are armed with crescent-shaped claws. Paws are not grasping: the thumbs are not opposed to the rest, and their mobility is limited. The third finger is the longest. Primitive skin patterns on the palms and soles of the feet are related to blunt lemurs and tarsiers. Their head is quite large, with an elongated muzzle, pointed to the nose. The auricles are large and rounded. Their upper lip is bare. The eyes are large and directed to the sides. The tail is long and bushy. The hair is of moderate length, thick and soft; the color is usually dark brown and reddish-brown. There are longitudinal stripes on the shoulders.

Habitat

It is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Bali, Java and Nias where it inhabits foremost primary forest.

Behavior

The activity is mainly diurnal. They are mainly arboreal, climbing trees and bushes, but they are often found on the ground.

Sexual dimorphism in treeshrew is shown in the size of the personal plot. The average size of the plot for the male is 10,174 m2, for the female-8,809 m2. They live alone, in pairs or in family groups, strictly protecting their territory from outsiders. Fights between males are sometimes fatal; there are no fights between males and females. The family group consists of parents and their offspring, with the older males settling down and the females often staying with their parents. Treeshrews feedalways alone.

Treeshrews communicate with each other by means of sound signals and other signs (for example, tail movements). Odorous marks left by odorous glands located on the chest and stomach are also used.

Diet

They are omnivorous, eating mainly insects and fruits. When they eat their food, they hold it in their front paws, like squirrels, while sitting on their hind legs.

Reproduction

Seasonality in breeding is year-round. The gestation period lasts for 41-50 days. There are usually 1 to 4 naked and blind cubs in the litter. Lactation lasts up to 28 days; at the age of 30 days, young animals leave their native nest. Sexual maturity is reached by 6 months. Cubs appear every 45 days, since the female is fertilized immediately after birth. If the male does not cover the female within 120 minutes after the appearance of the offspring, she will not allow the male to approach her.

Treeshrew's care for offspring has unique features. So, the young are in a separate nest, which is usually built by the male. The female spends very little time with the offspring, visiting them for only 10-15 minutes every 48 hours; thus, during the entire lactation period, the female spends no more than 1.5 hours with the young. For one feeding, each cub manages to suck 5-15 g of milk, which is very rich in proteins. No other concerns about the offspring of treeshrews do not show and are unable to identify him without his odorous labels. After 36 days, the young go to live in the parent nest, and a few days later they settle. Females often stay with their parents.

In captivity

Lifespan in captivity is up to 12 years.

It is desirable to keep a pair of treeshrews in a cage with a volume of at least 1.3 m³. Recommended dimensions: height-1.5 m, length-1m, width-0.9 m. The cage must be equipped with trees of different diameters (for the specified volume - 4-5 trunks, with a diameter of 3 to 15 cm and small branches), placed at different heights so that the animals can use the volume as much as possible. Well, if the branches are with forks, in which you can put pieces of hay or fresh grass (in summer). Such places can become daytime shelters for treeshrew, who like to rest on horizontal trees of medium size (up to 10 cm in diameter). The floor of the cage is lined with hay or crushed tree bark. It is necessary to strengthen at least two houses on the walls (the minimum size is 15x15x20 cm, the diameter of the hole is 4 cm): in one house the male and female spend the night, in the other the female raises young. If there is only one shelter, the offspring will not be fed.

In the warm season, it is advisable to move the treeshrews from the room to the street. Fresh grass or turf can be used as bedding. By placing animals in the fresh air, you can partially simulate natural climate changes for them, and although they will differ in parameters from tropical ones, fluctuations in temperature and humidity will have a beneficial effect on the vital functions of treeshrews and their ability to reproduce. Adults calmly tolerate temperature up to 6°C. And if you arrange an infrared lamp with a power of 250 W under the roof of an outdoor cage, the animals will be happy to rest under it on particularly cold days. In winter indoor conditions, it is desirable to maintain a daily temperature cycle of 25°C during the day and 18°C at night, as well as to moisten the cage from the sprinklers. As for the daily rhythm, the treeshrews regulate it themselves, going to the shelter to sleep at 21 p.m. and waking up at 7 am.

The cleaning of the cage should be discussed in details. Treeshrews for a long time mark everything around with various secretions, and the presence of their own odors convinces the animals that they are in a familiar, and therefore relatively safe place. The result of too thorough cleaning, especially when combined with strong-smelling disinfectants, can be as negative as putting an animal in a completely new cage. In addition, cleaning cages is an intrusion into the living space of animals, so it is convenient to perform daily dry cleaning in the morning and evening, blocking their entrance to the shelter. Cleaning consists of replacing part of the dirty substrate with a clean one. The remaining litter retains odour marks. The room in which there is a cage with animals should be well ventilated. Wet cleaning should be done once a week, and only twice a year - disinfection with painting: before the animals are put out on the street and before they move into the room for the winter.

When feeding treeshrews in captivity, keepers use a variety of finely chopped fresh fruits and vegetables, porridge with the addition of vegetable or butter, raw chicken or quail eggs, meat, fish and various types of live food. After reviewing the set of feeds, do not think that the animal should get all of the above every day. It should be remembered that one treeshrew per day eats about 90 g of feed and drinks about 90 ml of liquid (10 ml of milk, 10 ml of juice, water-unlimited). It is necessary to carefully monitor the feed consumption, in no case saving on live feed. Do not give a lot of artificially synthesized vitamin supplements, since there are no clear recommendations on their dosages and the degree of assimilation by wild animals, and we must remember that hypervitaminosis is often more difficult to eliminate than beriberi. It is much more useful, starting in mid-February, put in a cage small boxes with sprouted grains of oats, wheat, barley, sunflower. Treeshrews will dig in the ground, eating herbs and grains. Such food will be the best vitamin supplement for your pets.