Responsible breeding: are you really ready?

[gerbilgirlam]

One thing to remember: it is not possible to make money breeding gerbils!!!!!!!!!!! The food, bedding and equipment costs much more than the little bit you get for the gerbil. Gerbils are for fun, not profit.

[elif]

:)Your gerbils are really cute! I am breeding for a home made show that shall be organised on February, 15th 2007. Also for pets. I hope to sell most of the pups and if it works I will do work as a breeder.
The show will be with two other people and their gerbils against the quality of mine. It is a fun show. If you would like to reply with suggestions I'd be more that happy. My email is [e-mail] thank you

[elif]

Yes i know thank you

[kimsgerbils]

I don't like to sell at shows/events because then you don't get to know the person as well.. If I bring pets for adoption to an event, to ensure they're not just impulse buying, I ask them to write down their name/contact info and I get back to them the next day. That way, they can think it over and you can give them all the care info to look over that night.. They ARE cute, and are often impulse bought, which is not where you want your dear babies to end up.. Make sure the adopters KNOW gerbils and have thought about bringing pets into their lives, especially if children are to be caring for them.. Good luck with adopting them out

[Jenn]

My boyfriend decided to breed his gerbils and we got very lucky with the breeding pair being able to produce a whole array of interesting colors. (Dark Eyed Honey dad, Spotted Agouti Mom). The dad has a great temperment as well which seems to have been passed on to all the pups. It was new info to me that gerbils breed again right after they give birth so this resulted in two litters of gerbils and he's had to carefully seperate them and keep building cages but they have been tons of fun. 2 became 12 in a very short period of time.

[fran]

your breeding pair are just the same as mine Jenn except it is mum that is the DEH but the dad is too extremely taim. they have hust had their 1st litter and have produced 3 spotted agouti, 1 of which looks gray but i dont know if thats possible) 1 black and 2 agouti, 4 girls and 2 boys!

[zacbradley]

unfortuanatly i didnt get to choose weather to bread or not, a mastake at the pet shop lead to me having a male and a female without even knowing it. i now have pups. i can see the stupidity in breading when you carnt handle it, aspetioly from my point of veiw. this thread is a good idea. and i know this is the wrong place to advertise but if everything goers to plan i will have some pups to rehome, anyone live in the north east of england want some. dont know what colour or sex yet but if you do PM me. there free to a good home.

thanks
zac

[caz]

Zac, put a post on the breeders board - you may get more luck finding homes for the pups there

Caroline

[zacbradley]

thanks for the advise caz.
zac

[AndreaS15]

I want to BUMP this post.
I feel many members could use the original posters information.

[gerbilmummy]

Good idea ;D

[janis]

me, too. I was very interested in it.

[pezza]

Also most pet shops would take in your gerbils but don't expect any money for them and theres a chance they could end up as snake food.

[RitzieAnn]

Well- it depends where you are. I know here in the US- it's NOT as easy to dump off pets at a shop. But, as I've mentioned many times on the forum, YOU should check the sex of your animal BEFORE you leave the store. "Accident" litters really blow my mind actually. Boys and girls will mate, boys and girls will have babies... there for- make sure you have boys.... OR... girls. Not both. I also don't think people should dump their "mistakes" off onto other pet shops. YOU had everything to do with the birth of this litter- there for it's YOUR job to find their homes!

Also Pezza- I had a look at your site- quite interesting, though I *highly* reccomend that you credit where you obtained those pictures from in the cage section.

[velcro]

I'm curious about what the appeal is to breed gerbils, especially for inexperienced pet owners? It can't be stressed enough that you should get to know your animals before you decide to breed. This goes for all species: gerbils, dogs, cats, etc.
And also making sure you have the time and money to do so.

Even though I'm new to gerbils, I've owned small animals for over 10 years, and personally, I don't want to raise pups. I've always been perfectly happy getting animals at the petshop.

I've had an accidental litter of chinese dwarf hamsters once because I was misinformed. First, the store owner gave me a mixed pair when I asked for two males. Second, chinese dwarf hamsters aren't even supposed to be kept in pairs. This was also my fault because I was only about 13-years-old at the time and the internet isn't how it is now. Research wasn't as easy. haha! I remember having to check out hamster-care books out of the library and photocopy the pages I needed. But anyway, it was my inexperience that allowed the accidental litter to happen. Luckily everything turned out fine.

Taking care of a litter is scary! Worrying about the helpless little pinkies, giving the mother special foods every couple of hours to make sure she can provide milk for healthy pups. I did enjoy watching the pups grow up, but I don't think I'll ever want to go through that again. I've been so paranoid about accidental litters, I almost always raise males now.

Back to gerbils, I guess what I'm meaning to say is that I don't need to breed gerbils to be happy petowner. Getting to know my pets and raising them is rewarding enough I'm happy that others enjoy breeding though. They have the resources provide pets for people - and post cute pictures. ;D

that's my two cents