Originally Posted by
CritterMom
He is adorable. I am so jealous! They DO climb - not like tree squirrels, but I stood and watched one at Sabino Canyon clean darned near every new spring leaf off a small mesquite tree and he had no issues going up. If he was mine, I would make him the largest cage I could, and see how he felt about some PVC pipe tunnels that link up with other tunnels and end in little "dens." If he likes them, you can bury them in Carefresh, or I would probably use a bunch of pieces of fleece material, all piled up on the floor to be rooted through. That way, on cleaning day you just yank it out, toss it in the washer, and replace it with your OTHER big pile of fleece.
He would probably love a dirt digging box someplace it doesn't make a huge mess. I would get him inbto a cage of some sort sooner rather than later though - aquariums, even with an open top, have lousy air circulation.
I would also do some hunting around for some prairie dog groups on the internet. His diet is closer to theirs than the tree squirrels we are used to. That means lots of hay and grasses. I have no idea if they eat insects but it is something you should know.
I have seen males with just enormous "man pillows" before in the wild but it is possible that the testicles blow up big for mating season only and then all but disappear after that. A lot of small burrowing rodents do that - I think it is probably wiser to have them sucked in instead of dragging on the ground all the time! If you can take a picture of his privates for us it may help...