Rufous Bettong
Information below is from Lynda Stakers book " Don't step backwards" ( with permission )
In days gone by, people referred to Bettongs as ‘Rat Kangaroos’, but they are
very different to the Musky Rat Kangaroo, and really have no resemblance
whatsoever.
Whereas the Musky Rat Kangaroo is found only around the Cooktown area, the
Rufous Bettong is widely spread from Cooktown to northern N.S.W. and
apparently have been found on the N.S.W./Victorian border.
Whilst the Musky Rat Kangaroo is a deep rusty brown colour, with a typical
bandicoot shaped head, the Rufous Bettong has a pudgy little round face,
framed with silver-grey fur.
Their feet differ significantly, as the Musky Rat Kangaroo has a ‘first digit’
or big toe on its hind feet, similar only to a possum, whereas the Rufous
Bettong has very long feet in comparison to its leg length, with the typical
macropod toe structure.
The Rufous Bettong has a grey-silver coat, white under parts, pink nose, hands
and feet, and sparsely furred pink tail. They have large black eyes,
framed by a pink rim, and pink inner ears. We nickname then ‘chainsaws’,
because of the distinctive sound they make when vocalising,it really sounds
like a 2 stroke motor.
These intelligent little animals are basically easy to raise, as they mature
so quickly. Their eyes open at between 82 and 92 days, fur beginning to show
at around the same time, fully out of pouch at around 4 months, and weaned
between five and six months of age.
Belonging to the ‘potoroinae’ sub-family, they’re habitat requires plenty of
undergrowth, as they build nests to rest in during the day. They have
very sharp claws on both hands and feet, as much of their time is spent digging
fungi and tubers from the ground.
They gather nest material, such as grass, leaves etc., with their front paws,
then push it through to their prehensile tail, which bends under towards
their body. The tail holds the material as they scurry back to their nest site.
They dig a shallow hole, then fashion the nesting material over the hole, they
push it into place with their noses. They then go into the nest, and complete
the fashioning from then inside, until they are completely camouflaged under
the material. They have very long bottom teeth!
The female usually grows larger than the male, and are both sexually mature at
around twelve months.
When a male is interested in the female, he stands behind her thumping one foot,
while she throws herself on her side, and viciously lashes out with her
hind feet, growling her ‘chainsaw’ growl.
It is really comical to see the male thumping, trying to get close to her, and
she with her powerful hind feet, kicking like crazy, and boy does it hurt if
her feet connect! She will only allow the male to mate when she is ready,
otherwise he has buckleys chance of getting near her! When first raising these
joeys, I imagine we have all thought that our joey was an hermaphrodite, as
there is a little piece if skin which almost covers the opening of the cloaca,
however, both male and female has this little extra.
Special enclosures must be provided when the joey is able to be outside, as
they are prey to pythons, and birds of prey. A snake-proof enclosure is ideal
until the animal is able to fend for itself. We prefer to raise bettongs
together where possible, as with all macropods, it is easier on the
animal to identify with others of their own kind, rather than think it is a
human. To have bettongs raised together means they tend to learn how
to build nests and dig for their natural food, from each other. We have even
seen a young, almost independent joey, share the nest of another mother and her
joey. Usually, one male will dominate an area, and other males are forced out.
New nests are built on a regular basis, and old nests are also rebuilt and used
by other adults. They tend to stay in one nest for awhile, then vacate for a
new one, although we have seen them go back to an old nest eventually. Unless
you know what you are looking for, they are hard to see in their nest. Although
the books say that these bettongs do not drink much water, we have found that
our hand-reared in fact drank a lot of water, especially straight after their bottle
of formula; so water should always be present.
The immediate Mackay area is void of bettongs, although they do frequent the
top of the ranges surrounding Mackay, they are commonly seen on the roads
north and south of Mackay.
Information below is from Lynda Stakers book " Don't step backwards" ( with permission )
