Gerbils bought at Petsmart

[pauloml2004]

Hey eveyone,

In another post I was talking about how hard it is to find gerbil breeders in West Virginia. Local shelters do not have gerbils available either. My only option seems to be buying my gerbils at Petsmart. For those of you who have bought your gerbils there, could you tell me a little about your experience. I want to know how healthy your animals were, how docile, gender, number of gerbils bought at the same time (or not), how well they got along with one another (and with you), and anything else you want to share with me. Thank you for your help.

[Awaiting Abyss]

Both Zeeh (male) and Paku (male) came from Petsmart. I bought Zeeh first, after Nova (female) and Lyra (female) failed to be introduced to each other. I picked Zeeh because he was a show-off at the store. He was the only one that seemed interested that I was watching him. He constantly looked at me and continued to run on his wheel while making sure I was watching him. Zeeh was healthy when I got him and still is. He has always been very friendly and a show-off/attention-hog.
I got Paku about two months after Zeeh from the same Petsmart. I got him simply because he was so beautiful and Lyra still needed a mate. He was friendly, but more shy than Zeeh. He stayed in the hut that they had in their tank until a Petsmart employee showed him to me. He had two brothers with him, so I didn't feel bad about just buying him. Like Zeeh, he was healthy when I got him and has never had any health problems. He is very friendly, but will pee on me if I have any scent of any other animal on me at all.

I'd say that overall Petsmart has good gerbils. Its best if you ask an employee to let you see them first though. You can hold them and see which ones you want, and you can ask them questions about how long the gerbils have been together and if they get along, etc.

[SunshineGerbils]

I bought a very pretty little Burmese female from petsmart. She was super friendly and very sweet,,,but she was about 6 weeks old with her other litter mates and they had literally just gotten the babies and put them in their cage. Good timing I guess.

[MoonstoneGerbils]

The best thing to do is to find a breeder ( I know this can be a rather difficult thing to accomplish). There may not be breeders in west virginia, but there are breeders in Penn, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Delaware, and New Jersey. Not all of them are AGS members, but there are a few. Some are through 4h groups.

Val of Halo n Angels may be the closest to you. She has a number of my gerbils.

Also, why are you breeding? How do you plan on finding them homes?
Most petstores will not take them. Posting them on Craigslist is less then ideal. You will get people who take them as snake food for burmese pythons (avid owners of these snakes will just as soon buy one from the store for $15 or buy your $5/10 one, because they want their sick snake to eat and gerbils are the most similar to their natural prey). You will also get people who are "rescueing" all the unwanted animals off of craigslist. I've had this happen to me, I only found out after it was too late that the person was essentially an animal hoarder. You will find people looking to turn a quick buck, by taking your gerbil for $10 and trying to sell it for more. I've put ads on craigslist before, i get many responses but only few and far between sound like quality homes, ya know where someone is looking for a pet for the 8 year old. Craigslist is not the best place to get gerbils from, and is not the best place to find them homes. Its a crapshoot.

Your ability to find homes for your gerbils will be largely dependent on your location. People who live in cities with public transport have much higher adoption rates, partly because its easy access, and partly because city folk tend to keep smaller pets and care more about them. Often its the only pet they can have.

Whether or not you are a registered AGS breeder or not will also affect your adoption rate. Having a website also makes a difference

Gerbils that come from breeders are often tamer, they also usually know the genetics of the gerbil.

Picking gerbils from petstores is going to be difficult. Without a solid understanding of genetics, you are going to have a lot of gerbils of one color. finding a spotted gerbil will give you variety. if the gerbil is a self (aa) try and find a white belly (A*), if you have no idea what the means, research genetics.

Breed only in the fall and winter, with pups being placed around back to school and christmas. Most adoption tapers off around feb/march because of summer vacation.

Breeding is not for everyone, but i will tell you this. Its super easy to lose control over the situation. People think they can do it, and then a few months later they have 30 gerbils and feel overwhelmed. Be prepared to keep every gerbil you breed.

[Awaiting Abyss]

Were you directing that at me or the poster? o.o The poster didn't say he was going to breed. Sorry, just confused.

[pauloml2004]

# Awaiting Abyss - It was great to read about your "Petsmart Gerbils" story. It was especially nice to find out that your pets are still healthy just like when you first adopted them. Health was my main concern about purchasing pets at Petsmart. I have read lots of hairy stories about animals sufering and dying two or three days after being bought from there. On the other hand, I have also read many successful stories like yours, and this helps me think that I am making the right decision. Yesterday, I went to petsmart just to observe the gerbils available. They had two tanks with gerbils. In one tank there were 3 male gerbils, and in the other 5 "males" as well. However, I am sure that in the second tank there was only 4 male plus 1 female which was put there as a mistake. This poor little thing had no time for peace. She was being "chased" by those guys all the time. All the animals in both tanks looked healthy and active. I still have not bought any because in August I am going to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and I don't want to leave my gerbils under anyone else's supervision and care. I will be adopting my gerbils as soon as I come back from there in the 19th August. In the meanwhile I am doing my research and learning as much as I can about these little creatures. Thank you very much for being part of my learning process. By the way, your gerbils are realy cool.

[pauloml2004]

# Sunshine Gerbils - Sarah, I must confess that I found your personal website (via AGS) even before coming across this gerbil forum. I was impressed with the quality of information available, the beautiful pictures, and the organization of your page. It is really a shame that I don't live in PA because if I were any closer, I would adopt my gerbils from you. For me, one of the greatest advantages of adopting from a reliable breeder is because the puppies get more human interaction, and the buyer receives clear and accurate information about their gerbils from people who know exactly what they are doing and genuinely care about the pets and their families. The testimonials written by your customers were also really positive. I especially liked Yumi's review who said that she adopted 3 gerbils from you, and they are doing just perfect together. She also wrote how professional and knowledgeable you were. I really would love to adopt three females (like she did) at the same time. Thanks for your post on this forum. It was great to know about the sweet and friendly personality of your Burmese gerbils bought at Petsmart.

[MoonstoneGerbils]

LOL, sorry, I think i posted this in the wrong spot.

Anyways. i've gotten a number of gerbils from petstores. I haven't had health issues with them, but then, I only take healthy animals from petstores. So long as they have smooth fur, bright eyes, and small dry pelletted poop

Petsmart has a better quarantine program than petco. they hold animals for 3 days before putting them on the sales floor.

my biggest problem with store bought gerbils is they can be very squirrely. If you put you hand flat in the cage and they come up to you and walk over your hand thats a good.

[pauloml2004]

# MoonstoneGerbils - Thanks for the extra information about gerbil breeders. I will look for some further information about "Halo n Angel" and evaluate if I have any realistic chances to adopt my gerbils from there. As you know, my main problem has been the distance between my place and the breeders' places. However, I think I can take shorter car trips if necessary.

I don't know if you are directing the "breeding gerbils" part of your post at me or at someone else. However I did not see anyone here talking anything about breeding gerbils. And I did not say anything about this either. I have no intention to breed gerbils. I want to have them as pets. Pets, for me, are part of my family. I know that breeding is not for everyone, but I am sure that if I were willing to breed gerbils I would be one of the best. I am not impulsive about any decisions regarding animals, and if I were to become a breeder, it would be after lots of research and study. At this stage of my life, I am old enough to manage what I do in life with responsability and realistically breeding gerbils is out of my plans. But I do really appreciate your tips.

Craigslist is world of tricks, and I am aware of it. Thank you for your information anyway. I hate to see "free to good home" adds there. I know that some people want to give away their pets because they no longer can afford taking care of them, and they think that if they give their pets for free, it will be easier for these pets to find a new loving home. The reality is not so though. Free dogs and cats on Craigslist are used by heartless people as bait for dog fight and, believe or not, as shark baits as well. No one needs to be really bright to find out that some people "adopt" their rodents for free at Craigslist to feed their snakes and other sort of reptiles. I thought that if I had the chance to get my gerbils from Craigslist, I would be saving them from an unclear future in other hands.

I volunteer at animal shelters here, and one of my passions in life is saving lives. All my pets were adopted from shelters. That's why I was feeling so uncomfortable going to petshops and adopting my gerbils from there. I am always the first one to educate people to go to their local shelters if they want to adopt a dog or a cat. Unlike gerbils, dogs and cats are available at shelter all the time in every state in America. The dynamic involving gerbil adoption is quite different as we cannot find them as easy as other pets (at least here in WV). I spoil my pets to the fullest. My future gerbils will be spoiled as well. They will have the best I can afford and of course lots and lots of TLC.

[pauloml2004]

MoonstoneGerbils, it seems like our messages crossed somewhere in the virtual world. Is it a sign of good luck? ) Well, I am really happy that no one has had any gerbils bought at Petsmart with health problems. Thank you very much for sharing your experience here.

[pej21]

hmmm petsmart here stopped selling gerbils for a while

[arabianhorse935]

I've gotten 4 gerbils from petsmart. The first two are healthy, if a bit fat, at about 2 1/2 years old. Of the other two, one died a month after I got them, and the other seems to have allergy problems. I guess it can be kind of hit and miss. The next time I want more gerbils, I'll try very hard to find a breeder to ensure that I get healthy, happy gerbils.

[lalaleylee]

I got my two girls from petsmart a week apart from one another and had to do a split tank with them which worked out perfect after two weeks in the split.

They are healthy and happy and act like normal gerbils. Behavior with me is different for both of them. Bellatrix is not fond of being held and Luna doesn't mind at all.

My suggestion is just asking a million questions when you go.

I asked so many questions it was ridiculous. Lol. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[pauloml2004]

Thank you all for your answers. It was great reading each one of them, and I have learned a lot from you all. I will be adopting my gerbils either this weekend or next week and as soon as I have the chance I will post their pictures here and share a little about my adventure as a first time gerbil father.

[pauloml2004]

I got my gerbils yesterday from Petsmart. They seemed healthy, tame, curious, and active. At first, I was concerned about one of them when I first brought him home but now it seems like they are all doing great. He only took a little more time than his peers to get used to his new place.