Long-Nosed Cusimanse (Crossarchus obscurus)

[Ravnos]

The cusimanse is a species of dwarf mongoose found in western Africa in the countries of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. They live in a range of habitats, from swampland and grasslands to forests. Their primary diet in the wild is insects, snails, crustaceans, and small mammals, but they will eat fruit if they come across it. In captivity, I use a ferret food as a base and then suppliment with crickets, meal worms, wax worms, earth worms, mice, apples, grapes, and whatever else he seems to be interested in. They live in family groups, often of 10 or more and wander their territory foraging for food, finding shelter wherever they can instead of returning to dens of any sort. They have 2 or 3 litters per year, the babies taking about three weeks to become developed enough to keep up with the family foraging.

In captivity they do extremely well if socialized from a young age. They enjoy the company of people, but do not generally tolerate other species of animal. They bond strongly, and see humans as their family so want to be in constant contact, and don't appreciate being left alone for long periods of time. They tend to play rough, but quickly learn their limits. They are good jumpers, strong climbers, and require opportunities to keep themselves active and interested to remain tame and healthy. They can be food aggressive, which is a natural behaviour - only the strong get to eat in their family group social structure. The slow or weak only get what is left behind by the others.

They make several vocalizations, from a light squeaking sound that almost sounds like pinky mice to barks, growls, and what I term 'gakking', basically spitting and hissing loudly when they don't like something.





Rav

[savannah_babe]

oh rav he is soooo cute!!! do you let him wander your house like a cat? or is he usually kept in a cage? I WANT ONE..lol

[Ravnos]

He wanders the room when I'm around, but when I can't watch him he goes into a large ferret cage - which he also goes into at night. He sits on my shoulder much of the time.

Rav

[herp_chick]

Aw, he is so CUTE! Such an interesting animal, too. I bet no one else I know has one...........lol. Keep us updated on how he's doing.


BTW, Welcome to RTB, Skidmark

[savannah_babe]

aww, thats awesome. how did you come across an animal like that???

[Stormyva]

Awesome animal... there's something about having a "mongoose" in my house.

[Ravnos]

Theres a shop in Austin that deals with some of the more peculiar exotics, and will order stuff for preferred customers. Skidmark was 3rd hand. 2 other people got him and decided they couldn't care for him and brought him back - and as I'm sure you all know by now, I'm a sucker for hard luck cases.

Rav

[Bry]

Cool looking pet, Rav. He looks kind of like a chia pet in the 3rd pic.

Bry

[toker]

that sure is a cute little fuzz ball

[bubblestheferret]

Where can you get a Cusimanse???? Is there a breeder of them or do you have to ship them in?

[haroldo359]

very cool, ravnos!