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Post by andrea07 on Apr 16, 2015 15:43:45 GMT -8
I have two one year old gerbils who are both boys and I really want to start breeding, so I'm thinking of getting two girl gerbils for them and introducing them.
But what I'm most concerned about is the separation with the two boys, are they going to miss each other too much and show any emotional effect?
Is it too late for them to have babies?
I don't know if this is the right call because they might be too sad to leave each other and start being with female gerbils.
Should I also put the two boys and the girls together? I don't know what to do.
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Post by betty on Apr 17, 2015 3:35:40 GMT -8
Well, on the face of it - males are never really 'too old' to breed - they stay active in that sense for most of their lives, and being animals so to speak, their very nature is to procreate, so I don't think they will 'miss' their brothers once they each find a lady friend.
However, ladies are very different and should be around 5 - 10 months really for the best fertility. You also wouldn't want to put all four in together as this could cause a fight either within the first few hours or days, but almost definitely if the females give birth together and/or both men are still around.
Best plan would be to look at the genetics of your 2 men and then plan which colour females would be best to create the most home-able pups. And of course it goes without saying that they all need to be really healthy beforehand.
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Post by andrea07 on Apr 17, 2015 20:48:38 GMT -8
Thank you Betty, this makes a lot of sense.
Also when the gerbils are done with breeding and nurturing the pups and everything will it still be safe to join the original gerbils back together?
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Post by betty on Apr 17, 2015 23:59:27 GMT -8
Well yes, in theory you could split cage the original pairs back together, but there is always the chance that they won't take. Slim, but there. Most people leave a pup or pups with each parent, but then you double your tanks.
But then, have you considered sick or uneven numbered pups? Basically each litter could be between 3 and 7 pups, (so anywhere between 12 and 28 pups in total) and if you get the 'wrong' sexes or too many the same colour or the litter timings don't match, you might not be able to home them all immediately in suitable groups, and so might need to keep extra tanks at your home until you do.
It can be up to 4 months from first introducing the couples to full weaning of the second litter, so as long as you have put that time aside for this whole adventure.
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Post by ArcticWolf4 on Apr 21, 2015 13:44:12 GMT -8
Trust me, homing gerbils isn't as easy as it seems and many responsible breeders won't breed two females at the same time. It's better to just get one female, select the ideal male and breed them. You then split a male pup with the lone one, keep a male or two in with dad and female or two with mum. Then home the rest.
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