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Post by Shooting Star on Feb 18, 2008 9:19:37 GMT -8
It seems to be a fairly common thought that female gerbils' pelvic bones fuse at around one year of age. But I've never seen this mentioned outside of a forum or personal website. Does anyone know of reliable information that supports this? I've seen mentions of it in guinea pigs and rabbits, but not in gerbils, hamsters, etc. I'm wondering if it might be a misconception carried over from guinea pigs/rabbits?
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Post by Jill on Feb 18, 2008 9:41:22 GMT -8
This is really interesting. Now that I think of it, I've always been told this by people on this site, but never really looked into it. I guess I assumed it was factual because it's persistant in other animals... Hmmm. I have to go to class now, but I'm definitely going to be looking into this tonight. Thanks for bringing this up, Danielle!
Jill
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Post by zotteke on Feb 18, 2008 13:49:06 GMT -8
well, as far as i got tought, gerbils pelvic bones dont fuse together entirely like with guinea pigs, but the pelvic bones do harden/get more solid. im not sure how to explain it, but it *does* get more difficult for females to have their first litter after about 6 months of age.
children that are still growing quite a lot are a lot more flexibel than an adult of 30 years old eh ;].b
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Post by Jill on Feb 19, 2008 8:03:43 GMT -8
I scoured the internet for anything about their pubic bones fusing, and all I could find was information about Guinea Pigs and Rabbits... I guess it's just one of those things that was said once, and taken as fact? I'll keep looking for a source, to deny or confirm this though.
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Post by Shooting Star on Feb 19, 2008 8:18:05 GMT -8
It's a myth. After doing some more digging, I've found references to it in rats and Syrian hamsters as well. I don't know about the hamsters, but it's not true in rats ( ratguide.com/breeding/breeding/breeding_age.php). It was discussed briefly on the AGS yahoo group a few years ago, and determined to be untrue.
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Post by zotteke on Feb 19, 2008 9:46:42 GMT -8
yes, but you do need to understand that the body gets fermer when gerbils get older. so the 'total fusing' is a myth, but i would still be careful with breeding females who dont get their first litter untill their first birthday.
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Post by Abitail on Feb 20, 2008 16:56:23 GMT -8
I've heard this quite a bit, so I'll be interested to hear what you decide. It seems to me that older females have a harder time with them? I don't know if this is why, though.
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Post by AndreaS15 on Feb 25, 2008 15:53:14 GMT -8
yes, but you do need to understand that the body gets fermer when gerbils get older. so the 'total fusing' is a myth, but i would still be careful with breeding females who dont get their first litter untill their first birthday. I have to agree. Just like people the older you wait to have your first child the more risks are involved.
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Post by Ed on Feb 25, 2008 16:00:33 GMT -8
Yes I think I mentioned that you should be cautious of breeding an elderly female on eGerbil forum, when you asked the question there, but that's just exercising common sense really. Yes though I do agree it seems its yet another gerbil urban legend lol
Ed
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Post by Shooting Star on Feb 25, 2008 17:25:54 GMT -8
Agreed-- I'd have thought it was common sense, but any animal is going to have more trouble giving birth as it gets past its prime.
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Post by Ed on Feb 25, 2008 17:49:16 GMT -8
Well yeah, but at the same time we don't want to let people see it as some sort of green light to breed some poor geriatric gerbil just because were saying this.
Ed
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Post by Shooting Star on Feb 27, 2008 8:02:11 GMT -8
Shouldn't assume people have common sense, lol.
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Post by underthastarrs on Feb 28, 2008 2:54:37 GMT -8
I was warn by other breeders about the fusing of the pevic bone but i havent had any problems with any of my gerbils. So my guess this is a MYTH... until we have any actual proof to back the info up.
Everyone should know by now that once a gerbil reach the age of 1 yr old, that they might have problem's giving birth to pups. If that gerbil does have problems then she shouldn't be allowed to have anymore litters.
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Post by jade on Mar 5, 2008 17:31:08 GMT -8
Fusing? Really? I've read somewhere that the females are most fertile after a year...
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Post by AndreaS15 on Mar 7, 2008 10:29:27 GMT -8
Shouldn't assume people have common sense, lol. LOL... Ain't that the truth.
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