The potential locomotor performances of four Saharan species of rodents were tested in laboratory conditions, using three experimental situations. Two questions were investigated: Is each of these species able to use the vertical dimension when it is available? Does each of these species behave efficiently in a new environment? We tested the performances ofAcomys cahirinus(Desmarest 1819) andGerbillus campestris(Le Vaillant 1867) that are found in rocky environments in the wild and ofGerbillus pyramidum(I. Geoffroy 1825) andMeriones shaivi(Rozet 1833), that are found in sandy environments. Climbing performance of the species was tested on a horizontal platform, a thread and a tree-branch. From our data, we concluded thatAcomysandG. campestrisshowed an efficient behaviour in these three tasks.M. shawiand to a lesser extent G.pyramidumwere unable to behave efficiently in the test situations.