Neutering males

[ps25]

Hi  

I have a couple of questions for breeders who have decided to neuter their males when they dont want to breed with them any more - 
1.  Why did you decide on neutering rather than separating the male from their mate?
2.  Did you separate the male from the female (and any pups) for the surgery and recover?  If so, were there any problems with the re-introduction to the female (and any pups)?  
3.  Would you recommend doing it or not? 
4.  Any other factors I should take into account before deciding on this option?

Thanks

[betty]

Great question - can't wait to hear people's feedback on this.

I never had a male neutered as I didn't work with permanent or long-term pairs. All my males were left to retire with a son or more from their last litters.

I - like most breeders - also had plenty of other gerbils that I could intro them to if needed - but I would imagine in other areas where gerbils aren't so easy to come by or where people can't make space for a second enclosure this would be a real consideration.

Apparently the operations are very successful with hardly any post-surgery losses - so that is great news at least - even though always risky of course.

[LilyandDaisy]

I don't think neutering males is something breeders often do because there's usually a son for the dad to live with, so it's an unnecessary surgery and expense. It's done more by rescues when they have two single gerbils who happen to be opposite sex. I think it's a fairly short and simple surgery. My gerbil Storm had been neutered a few weeks before I adopted him and he was fully healed but had two tiny dissolvable stitches which went away with time.

Of course neutering the male doesn't stop the female going into heat, and my female Rocket used to get quite angry when Storm ignored all her efforts to seduce him (she doesn't go into heat anymore thankfully). That's the thing with gerbils as opposed to other species where neutering is much more commonly done (like rats, mice and guinea pigs), the females are dominant.

[londongerbils]

I agree with Lily and Daisy, I only know of rescues who do this because they find single females that come in so difficult to pair, so it works better form them to try a male/female pairing.

[ps25]

OK, I can see how it makes sense for rescues centers. As a small breeder, I was wondering if this was a feasibly solution to get out of the cycle of pairing an older gerbil with a younger pup, especially if there isnt an odd pup left over after adopting out pairs. It would be nice (sentimental lol) to think that the bonded parents could live out their lives together after they are retired from breeding. Although obviously there is the risk of the surgery to consider as well.