Dunnart
To Animals
This tiny carnivorous marsupial is found throughout New South Wales in a number of habitats. Often confused for a common house mouse, it can be distinguished by its furry brown tail and five toes. Species of dunnart are in threat from introduced predators such as cats and degradation of their natural habitat. Dunnart are most commonly found west of the Great Dividing Range and south of the Tropic of Capricorn. The striped faced Dunnart and the White-Footed Dunnart are two species native to New South Wales considered vulnerable.
The Dunnart is primarily insectivorous but has been known to take small lizards and juvenile rodents. The Fat-Tailed Dunnart has the ability to store fat in it's tail allowing it to survive during the winter months when food may be scarce. They also have the ability to hibernate for several days to conserve body energy. It weighs about 16 grams, has a head-body length of about 90 mm and a tail length of about 60 mm.
The Fat-Tailed Dunnart is the ideal native animal to care for as a household pet. A suitable environment would be an empty aquarium appropriately landscaped to accommodate a ground-dwelling carnivorous marsupial. Dry plasterers sand is a good base with rocks, tussocks of grass, hollow logs and pieces of bark for the animals to hide under and make their nests in a cage no smaller than 900 mm long by 300 mm wide and 400 mm high.
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