Advice for split-cage old female with young male?

[velcro]

Hi All, about a week ago my gerbil, Sasha, passed away. I think it was old age as she was about 2 1/2 years old. This leaves her sister, Frankie, all alone. I was thinking about getting her a friend. I have done successful split-cages before in female/female pairs or male/male pairs.

But this time, I was thinking about setting up old Frankie with a male because I don't think she would get along with another female. Frankie is dominant, but never aggressive. But the odd thing is that she got along with Sasha ok. Never fought, groomed each other, but they would sleep together maybe only 50% of the time. Mostly when the weather was cold. I thought this was so strange that they would do this and joked that Sasha was Frankie's "blanket" lol. Sometimes I feel like Frankie got along better with me than Sasha.

Anyway, because of this behavior, I was thinking the best pairing would be with a male. She's 2 1/2 and I'm just concerned if she would get pregnant. I can afford another gerbil, but I can't afford to care for a litter. I saw this website that a 2 1/2 y/o female will rarely get pregnant by a young male: Wondering if this is true?

I checked some shops and this is what's available:
young males - I would only introduce 1 (Frankie will have a boyfriend!)
young females - not pups, but proabably 3 months or older. I'd like a pair, but I only have a 10 gallon tank with a topper. I think this size would be too small for Frankie and 2 young females. So, I'd only introduce 1 young female.

In this situation, do you think Frankie would be better with a young male or young female?

[rhianna]

If you would be unable to afford/care for a litter, then do not risk getting a male. It's common for females to no longer get pregnant after about 2 and a half years, but it isn't fool-proof. There's still a possibility of her getting pregnant.

Getting a pair of females would mean they have to be 7-8 weeks old for the intro to work properly. You would also need a bigger tank for a trio. So, one young female would be fine and is your best option. The younger the better, because they usually work best in intros. Just make sure that if you adopt a pup, it's at least 7 weeks old.

[johanne]

If those females are 3 months or older, you'd be better off with a baby male. Assuming she's never had pups before and the male is very young, the odds on getting a litter are so low it's not really worth worrying about.