Dormouse Facts - Breeding

Wildlife Home
    Dormouse Home
        Dormouse Books
        Dormouse Links
        Dormouse Facts Home
            Dormouse Fact File
            Dormouse Dangers
            Dormouse Feeding
            Dormouse Body
            Dormouse Breeding
            Dormouse Illness & Death
            Dormouse Hibernation
            Dormouse Senses
    Hedgehog Home
Site Map
News
Help Us

The Dormouse Breeding & Raising Young

Baby hazel dormice are usually born in July or August, later than most other British rodents. The commonest dormouse family size is 4, however sometimes more than 8 can be found together. This could represent a large litter, but is more likely to be where 2 females have combined their litters. It takes 6 to 8 weeks to raise a dormouse family. Because of this it is extremely unlikely that a female dormouse could raise more than one family a year. Because of high mortality rates, sometimes only one baby dormouse could be reared in a year.
Consequently, dormice live at very low population densities. Moreover, dormouse populations may not have enough adults to produce enough young to keep the population going. There will then be less animals the next year, and less the next year. This is known as an extinction vortex where eventually the population dies out. This problem is exacerbated by habitat fragmentation. Small dormouse populations become broken up by roads etc. This causes the extinction vortex to speed up, and localized populations collapse extremely quickly.