Jerboa

Jerboas are hopping desert rodents, and the usual pet species cannot be imported to the US. The one most people mean is the lesser Egyptian jerboa, Jaculus jaculus, of North Africa, Arabia and the Middle East. It has a body about 10 cm long on long hind legs, a tail of up to 25 cm ending in a black and white tuft, and it weighs 43 to 73 grams. It spends the day in a sealed burrow, forages at night for seeds, plants and insects, and gets most of its water from food.

If you are looking for a jerboa for sale, start with the law. Since November 2003, after a monkeypox outbreak traced to imported African rodents, 42 CFR 71.56 has barred importing any rodent obtained from Africa or native to Africa without written permission from the CDC, and that permission is limited to scientific, exhibition or educational purposes. Jerboas are therefore seldom sold in the US, and state wildlife rules can add limits. Where they are kept, they need a large escape-proof enclosure with deep sand, a dry warm room and very little handling, since a frightened jerboa can injure itself jumping. Ask any seller where the animal came from and for its paperwork.