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Post by trixieb on Apr 9, 2010 6:58:38 GMT -8
We had a pair of male gerbils who recently died within 3 weeks of each other at 3.5 years old. We'd like to get a pair of young gerbils, but have some questions.
1. Both of our male gerbils had scent gland tumors. Is this very common for male gerbils?
2. Do female gerbils tend to have specific health issues as they age? If so, what? Do they get scent gland tumors too?
3. Our males were pretty sociable, happy guys who got along well. I've read that males tend to be more laid back than females, and have less tendency to squabble or de-bond later on. Is this true, or does a pair of females tend to bond well and live happily together?
4. Are female gerbils just as friendly and sociable toward their "people" as male gerbils?
Thank you in advance for any help and answers you can give.
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Post by greenbelt09 on Apr 9, 2010 13:40:57 GMT -8
hey there... sorry about your loss. R.I.P little guys 1) Scent gland tumors aren't extremely rare or common. i think it just depends partially on how your gerbil uses their scent gland. I've heard that males are more prone to SGTs because they use their scent gland more to mark things, but I've had a female gerbil get one recently. 2) I don't think there are any female-specific gerbil illnesses besides maybe ovarian cysts or cancer or something similar. But if course males can get those types of things on their parts, too. And females can get Scent gland tumors too. 3&4) Many people say that males are more sociable and that females have a greater risk of declanning, but I've only ever had females, so I can't quite say from personal experience. I will say though, that I recently had three gerbils together for quite a while with absolutely no problems, they slept together all the time and never fought. The threesome only ended because one of the girls died of a SGT. Before that I had another 2 females together, and they were best buds too. So from my experience, females can be extremely nice and sociable, including with humans. Hope this helped a bit, good luck on finding a great pair!
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Post by loviesgerbil on Apr 9, 2010 15:29:28 GMT -8
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Post by trixieb on Apr 10, 2010 12:51:09 GMT -8
We got a darling pair of little girls this morning! One is black and white (not sure if this is called piebald?) and the other is siamese. Now we're enjoying their antics and trying to think of names.
We called and visited a lot of pet shops. Very few had male gerbils; one had a pair that we weren't sure was entirely healthy, and another had a male trio with one obviously ill gerbil. At the last store we went to, we found our happy, healthy, and curious-about-humans little girls.
I would have preferred to adopt through a breeder, but I wasn't able to find anyone closer than 200 miles away. But I do have a good feeling about the store where we got the girls. The staff person was very knowledgeable and the gerbils had arrived only a few days ago.
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