m 1st litter plzz help

[Jill]

You mean you're postponing your breeding plans until late next year? Good, I'm glad to hear that!

Explain again what the 4 foot tank idea is?

[jamie]

:)i have a 4ft tank in my shed after Christmas or by Christmas my dad will split the tank up and ill give the males away and buy new males from 3 different places so i wont be inbreeding sorry i toke so long

I have a 4 foot tank in my shed i will make a lid for it ill give away the male gerbils and buy new one's from different places so i wont be inbreeding and i will split it into 2 with all males on one side and the females on the other side and change them over every day to get used to eash other then split it into three and pretty much breed ;D

[kirsty]

that sounds like a good plan, but it probably wont work, as if you are planning, whenever that be, to introduce a breeding pair then you should only move gerbils in a split tank 1 at, a time, so you would have only 1 male on 1 side and 1 female on the other, not groups, as if you are swapping groups round both sides of the split tank, it will case stress(hard to wright down what Im trying to say), mainly to the males as they will smell the females and probably end up fighting which will get nasty and mean you need to seperate the males, using up any spare cages you might have.

and if you split a 4 foot tank into 2, it is not enough space for 3 pairs(and any potential babies) of gerbils, a 4 foot tank should only really be split into 2, which would give enough room for a pair of gerbils on each side, or even better if you could use these 3 foot tanks you said you had for your breeding pairs.

[Vixen]

whats happened to all your 3ft tanks

[Shooting Star]

Dec 11, 2008 7:47:13 GMT -8 @jamie said:

i will split it into 2 with all males on one side and the females on the other side and change them over every day to get used to eash other then split it into three and pretty much breed

A few things:

1. What females are you using?

2. You shouldn't introduce gerbils this way. You need to introduce one male to one female at a time. To do otherwise will create stress and confusion, and will most likely end up in serious fights.

3. I would never recommend keeping a breeding pair and pups in anything less than 20 gallons of space. Your 4' tank is likely about 40-45 gallons, so splitting it into three parts does not give enough space to each pair. It could be bigger, though-- what are the other measurements of the tank (width and height)?

4. Keeping breeding pairs in the same tank (even with it split, since they can still see and/or smell each other) can cause a lot of stress-- never a good thing when breeding. It would be much better to keep them in separate tanks. What happened to all your new tanks?

[jamie]

nothing nothing don't worry about them how about i do this Ive seen it before have 4 gerbils in that tank 2 males and 2 females i will be using female pups from dun and males from pet store (hopefully breeder help me find one please aberdare way) split it into half like i said with glass and then one of the split sides i spiel lat so they have a foot eash and a gerbil in eash male female on 1 side split male female on other side spilt

[Shooting Star]

You shouldn't use pups from Dum. You could use Dum herself, but not her pups. The pups are already inbred, and that's not something you want to start with.

I'll say this again: if you breed in a split, it will cause stress, particularly to the females. And too much stress can lead to females killing their pups.

The best use for your 4' tank (other than housing Dummer) would be to split it in half and use one side for female pups and the other for male pups, once you get breeding.

These explain how to make a proper split for a one-on-one intro:
gerbilforum.proboards21.com/index.cgi?board=baifaq&action=display&thread=12094
agsgerbils.org/Gerbil_Care_Handbook/adopt.php#split

I can't help you find a breeder, as I have no idea where they are in the UK. You may have more luck finding a breeder or rescue over on eGerbil: gerbilsuk.proboards15.com/. But please, do them a favor and post as a guest. They are bound by the same age restriction we are.

[jamie]

OK thank you about bedding can gerbils have full sand as there bedding

[Shooting Star]

No, sand is cold and smells *very* bad when wet. There is also the danger of gerbils' lungs being affected by the silica dust. Use wood shavings or a recycled paper product.

[jamie]

can gerbils have sand a tall because i bought 10 bags of 10kg sand for them


(and for some i ent jamie just saying

[Shooting Star]

Yes, they can have sand to play in. You can set up a spare tank or bin with a layer of sand and some toys as a play area.

Dec 11, 2008 9:40:32 GMT -8 @jamie said:

(and for some i ent jamie just saying

...What? If you're not Jamie, why are you posting under the guest name "jamie" ... ?

[Vixen]

I thought you said you had 6 3ft tanks would'nt it be better to use these instead of splitting a 4ft.

[jamie the real 1]

well yes but i cant be asked to have 3 tanks full when i only need 1

[Shooting Star]

It's very simple: if you have three breeding pairs, you need to have them in three separate tanks.

It's best to use a large tank split into sections for permanent same-sex pairs, lone gerbils, or young pups.

[Vixen]

1, what do you mean by "jamie the real1"

2, what do you mean by can't be asked, do you mean can't be arsed? cos if thats the case if you can't be bothered with 3 tanks then maybe your not thinking in the right direction.

3, You need 1 tank per pair, plus one tank per each sex for each litter, you can not breed with just one tank.


I still thinking there something fishy about this situation.