First litter size vs later litter size - poll

[Markpd]

Please only vote in the poll if you've had at least one gerbil whose had more than 1 litter (otherwise it will skew the stats to single litter birth sizes). Your own votes (only) can be removed by clicking on them again.

(You can post your single litter size below if you like though).

Don't count still births. (any other limitations suggested people?)

For those who have bred multiple gerbils I suggest you average the 1st, 2nd etc litter sizes across your gerbils. And if your average changes over time, you can change your answer later on.

Would particularly like answers from betty and Shooting Star (to name but 2 breeders), if you're able to collate at least some stats?

From a very quick read at Gerbilwelfares breeding guide, I estimated from their recommended age for breeding gerbils that 4 litters were feasible, so maybe 5 is possible (even if ill-advised! I have no idea about that btw).

I don't believe I can edit the poll after posting it, so it was better to have too many listed than too few.

The idea for this poll was spurred by the thread "First litter = fewer pups?" by bananaboat ,  and sparkbubble 's suggestion there.

Poll is open for 50 yrs! So that should be long enough! [edit] Or not, the forum has limited it to 'only' 15yrs.

If you wish to view or vote to a poll about general average litter size, see this thread (it's poll is still open atm).

LMK if I should change anything for the poll requirements (as I mentioned, I can't edit the poll itself after posting it AFAIK).

[betty]

I love it! 50 years.

I have voted for my first two litters when I picked up breeding again when I furst joined this forum - which was a pair of litters that were 3 and then 4 respectively. I remember it so well as their genes were not compatable - and so all 7 pups were the same colour. All CP agouti - a lovely colour of course - thank goodness the mum carried the spotting gene otherwise telling them apart would have been near impossible!

I will certainly go back through my breeding history files at some point and work out some average stats for this.

[Markpd]

That would be great to see those breeding stats

Sadly the forum limited it to 'only' 15yrs!

[Markpd]

*cough* I think TJ's Rodent Ranch could add some useful stats here

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Apologies now, because this might be a lengthy post, lol.

I've had several breeding females, a few of which have had many litters. I've listed them below to keep this as concise as possible. Of course, these litters were not back to back. The females that have had four or more are retired now. I will be including runts, even if they were severely under developed.

Ziggy- her first litter was 3, and her second was 5.

Skittle- her first litter was 5, her second was 6, her third was 6, her fourth was 7, her fifth was 2 (at this point, she retired)

Poppy- first litter was 1, second litter was 4, third litter was 6, fourth litter was 6.

WD40- first litter was 6, second litter was 7

D'babe- first litter was 6

Oji- first litter was 6

Zit- first litter was 6

Mouse- first litter was 5 (this was the mystery litter, so there might have been more in the begining)


Overall, I think that the question of whether or not the first litter is small, in my opinion, is not exactly as straight forward. I would say, as you can see in Skittle, the first litter for her was smaller then her average, but not small for a litter. As for WD40, it appears that her first litter was exactly around her average. I can't say what the average of D'babe, Mouse, Zit, and Oji are, because I've only seen one litter, but I can say that their first litters weren't small either. However, in Ziggy and Poppy's circumstances, both their first litters were definitely small, and seemed to follow that. Also, it seems that once a female starts to get a little older, her average goes down considerably, as seen in Skittle. I believe this is just a known circumstance, however.

Because of how over the place these results are, in my experience I would say that some females follow this trend, but definitely not all. There's also the possibility that age could have something to do with it. If a female has her first litter younger or older than average it could have an effect.

Anyway, I hope this gives a wide enough scope, and some of the females that have only had one are pregnant with the second litter, so I'll update on that when they do.

[Markpd]

Thanks, very useful
Could you vote in the poll at the top too?

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Sure!
I just added my poll. I chose Skittle to put up ther, because she's had all five litters.