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Post by bananaboat on Dec 10, 2022 22:38:10 GMT -8
I have a lone female gerbil who I bonded to a male thinking she was a boy, but now they are separated. I’m in the process of getting her a female friend, though they are hard to find near me. My gerbil keeps offering her back to me whenever she’s in heat and she thumps at me to try to get me to mate with her lol. It’s a bit sad since she can’t have a mate in captivity, is there anything I should know about females in heat. Things I should avoid doing? I don’t want her to get distressed because she gets frustrated when she’s in heat. I really wish gerbils gave birth infrequently or to few babies. Sorry if this is a weird post.
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Post by betty on Dec 11, 2022 6:49:01 GMT -8
No worries - no post is weird on here either - we like to cover everything.
As for her behaviour - it is just one of those things - some females are really driven (by their hormones) to act in this way when in heat - even if no males are present. Other females I have had I have never seen act this way throughout their entire lives, so it really is a personal thing.
She may well continue to do it when she has a new female friend too - and even their friends aren't always sure what to do. Some females join in and have a confused hump-fest for a few hours - and other females just walk away and totally ignore them.
I suppose as humans we should follow along the latter path and try to handle them less when we spot this behaviour so we aren't accidently triggering any increased behaviour in them.
Finally - there are many rescues now that neuter their male gerbils - which is another option for pairing her too - although a hormonally absent male might be more annoying to her than a nonchalent female? We really don't know enough yet about how neutered males are registered by females.
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