The Dormouse Hollow

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where can I get a pair of dormice?
  It depends on what dormouse species you want and which country you live in. The British Mammal Society writes on Muscardinus: "You cannot; dormice may not be trapped or sold except under licence from English Nature (Northminster House, Peterborough, PE1 1UA) or the Countryside Council for Wales (Plas Penrhos, Ffordd Penrhos, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2LQ) as appropriate.".
  In Germany all indigenous dormice (Glis glis, Muscardinus avellanarius, Eliomys quercinus, Dryomys nitedula) are protected species, you're not allowed to buy, sell or keep them.
  Keeping Graphiurus seems to be legal everywhere; you can mail-order them from some pet shops.
  Input on other countries missing.
• I am a journalist and need good quality dormouse photographs for a report
  You will find a few pictures in the Photo Gallery. If you are a dormouse researcher and have good quality photographs to offer, please mail us. We can put up low-quality versions on the website and whoever wants to use them will have to mail you and fix a price.
• What can I do if I find a young dormouse?
  You'll find instructions in German at Was tun mit gefundenen Bilchen?. We will provide this information in English as soon as we get around to translating it.
• Are there any dormice living in the wild in the U.S.A.?
  Missing.
• Some rodents seem to be living in my attic. How can I find out whether they're rats or dormice? What do dormouse droppings look like?
  Unfortunately the Dormouse Hollow doesn't have a picture of dormouse droppings yet. If any dormouse researchers or breeders read this, we would be grateful if you could let us have one.
• What can I do to get rid of dormice that live in my house?
  Missing.
• Should it be "Glis glis" or "Myoxus glis"? "Gliridae" or "Myoxidae"? Why?
  "Linnaeus, the father of modern biological nomenclature, named [the Edible dormouse] Sciurus glis in 1766, believing it to be a kind of squirrel. Living in Sweden, Linnaeus had never seen one of these animals himself and his description was based on information sent to him by G.A. Scopoli, a correspondent in Slovenia. Scopoli's original letter is still in the Linnean library in London. So, Linnaeus himself was unfamiliar with the animal and was puzzled by the references to 'Glis' in the writings of ancient Greeks and Romans. Linnaeus thought this might refer to some sort of marmot or hamster.
  Meanwhile, the creature had been called Glis glis by Brisson in 1762, a name that has since been in regular use in the scientific literature for 200 years. However, owing to a rather muddled history of naming, and the fact that Brisson did not always follow the accepted rules of nomenclature, the validity of using the name Glis has now been challenged and substituion of the next oldest generic name has been urged. If this proposal is accepted, the animal's official name will be Myoxus glis. However, if this generic name is now adopted, the entire family of dormice will have to be renamed Myoxidae instead of Gliridae." (Pat Morris: The Edible Dormouse, p. 5) The International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature has since decided in favour of Glis glis. The other names should no longer be used.
• Where can I see dormice in captivity?
  Czech Republic: Zoo Chomutov (Glis, maybe Eliomys)
  Czech Republic: Zoo Brno (Glis, Muscardinus)
  Germany: Zoo Frankfurt (maybe Graphiurus)
  Russia: Moscow Zoo (Glis)
  If you know a zoo that keeps dormice and is not listed here, please let us know.
• Some of the special characters, e.g. in researchers' names, on this website are broken.
  As the Dormouse Hollow contains names, references and material from all over the world, we used Unicode to encode some special characters. In order to properly view the result there must be a font installed on your computer that contains these foreign characters.