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Post by gerbilpower on Oct 22, 2021 17:24:44 GMT -8
Hi guys,
so i have 2 females gerbils, Shadow and Nugget. i would like to experience one of them having babies. how do i do this? if a buy a male gerbil, wont they keep breeding? And if I buy another cage for him, he'll be alone. plus i really dont have space for another big cage in my room. What are my options? Is there a gerbil renting service?Haha.
If anyone has any idea what to do or where to borrow a gerbil, please let me know!
Thank you! Megan!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Oct 22, 2021 18:41:48 GMT -8
In terms of the "gerbil renting service", what you're talking about is stud, where a male animal is hired or borrowed just to mate with a female and then given back to its owner. It isn't a thing people do with gerbils because gerbil parents raise their young together, the father taking a very active role in the parenting. It isn't fair to make a gerbil mother raise her babies on her own unless for a very good reason, such as to prevent further unnecessary litters after the first obligatory two. The first two litters are "obligatory" because gerbils mate again immediately after giving birth, which means if the male is left in to help care for the first litter, you'll also have a second litter. Breeders usually remove him shortly before the second litter is born, and then introduce a male pup or two to him. When you decide to breed you have to plan for a minimum of two litters.
Keeping more than one female with one male also isn't something people do with gerbils because females are likely to fight over a male. One female might also kill or steal the other's pups. So you would have to separate Shadow and Nugget if you wanted to breed either of them, and they wouldn't be able to go back together after having litters either. They would have to live separately with a female pup each for company.
You'll need to keep any pups you can't find good homes before. You should be sure, before breeding, that you have the space, time and money to keep potentially up to 20 gerbils (the two parents, plus two litters, if they happen to be very large litters), which is potentially up to 10 tanks (maybe more if some declan). You might find that people in your local area just aren't interested in buying gerbils. If you wouldn't have space to keep another male, you wouldn't have space to keep any pups either.
Things get very complicated very quickly when you start multiplying animals and the extra responsibility, work, expense, and stress will outweigh the initial novelty of having pups. Much better to enjoy the gerbils you have for now and leave the breeding until you have the space, time, money, and experience to do it well.
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