UNCOMMON PETS. 
A series of articles on the Care and Keep of Animals in Captivity. 
By P. WELLINGTON FARMBOROUGH, F.Z.S., F.E.S., etc. 
XV. THE MUNGOOSE. 
EARLY every day one may see advertisements in the various live stock and fancy 
papers offering ichneumons, or mungooses, as they are more commonly called, for 
sale, often with the recommendation that they are the best means of ridding a house 
of rats and mice. ‘This is only true to a certain extent, as they cannot be given 
liberty to act as “mousers” as a cat can, for although small animals—smaller than a 
cat—they are most bloodthirsty little fiends, and would clear a house or garden of its 
live stock in less than no time. So a very sharp eye must be kept on a mungoose 
except during the time it is safely caged. 
These animals being extremely quarrelsome, one is quite enough to have as a pet, 
since the yelping noise and squeaks made by a couple of ichneumons is enough to upset 
the equilibrium of the most even-tempered person. If two are kept together, even 
a pair, they never seem happy unless engaged in quarrelling with each other, and 
when they fight they inflict nasty injuries on one another, as they always endeavour 
to bite their opponents about the feet and legs until one succeeds in fastening its 
teeth in the other one’s throat and thus finishes the affray; if they have been together 
from early days they do not squabble so bitterly. It often happens that when two or 
more mungooses are sent any distance they injure one another seriously unless kept in 
separate compartments. 
The facilities of transport have increased so much during the last few years 
between Europe and tropical countries that the animals peculiar to the latter are 
exported in numbers, and nowadays the ordinary foreign animals cost no more than a 
dog does; the mungoose is so frequently brought over to this country that it can be 
bought for fifteen shillings, and often less, from almost any animal-dealer. Some care 
must be taken in selecting the one wanted to make sure it is a young one, as the 
writer has not yet succeeded in taming an old one. An adult specimen of these 
animals is nearly always nervous, morose, and irritable when captive, spending the 
greater part of its time in biting the wires of its cage, and running away at the 
approach of anyone into the farthest corner of its cage, especially if it can get under 
a heap of hay or straw to hide itself. Some ichneumons—and particularly the 
Egyptian species—when captured fully grown refuse to eat or drink anything at all. 
If the reader can get hold of a young one, it will speedily become quite tame and 
attached to its owner in a marked degree. 
A box-pattern cage—that is, wired in the front only—is the most suitable, as it 
is not so draughty as the other kinds with the back or ends open as well; one 
four feet long by three feet in height and the same from back to front will be quite 
large enough; the wire-work must be strong, as the mungooses are powerful little 
animals for their size. A couple of doors are necessary, one at each end of the cage, 
so that every part of the interior can be easily reached. The floor of the cage may be 
covered with pine sawdust—which is an excellent deodorant—and a thick layer of 
straw on top; the straw and sawdust must be changed every day. There is no need 
to partition off any part of the cage for a sleeping compartment, as a small box 
full of hay or straw is just as serviceable, with the advantage that the whole of the 
cage is under observation if required; a small round cheesebox can be bought for a few 
pence at a grocer’s, and will be found just the thing. 
dol 
