Lone female gerbil, what now?

[ellie15]

Hello there, 
I have one female gerbil called Sky (just under 18 months) who recently lost her cage mate. I obviously want to introduce her to another gerbil ASAP but I’m not sure what to do. I have bonded other gerbils using the split cage method before, and I would be able to do this again. I am interested in breeding but understand that this is often heavily discouraged. I have a few questions about breeding so if anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated! 
I am frequently checking pet rehoming sites for gerbils in and around my area but at the moment there doesn’t seem to be anything that sticks out, just a few breeders selling 8 week old pups. I would absolutely love to breed and Sky is perfectly healthy. I have also done a lot of research but I know this doesn’t compare to having firsthand experience, but is there any way I could introduce Sky to another male? I would preferably not want more than a couple of litters (idk if that’s the right name sorry!) but I don’t know how I would be able to introduce Sky and a potential male without them having numerous litters and me ending up with dozens of cages dotted around.
For example would I be able to breed Sky and another male, wait until Sky had her pups, put the male and Sky back in the split cage with the pups with mum until they grow up and then keep a couple of male and female pups with each the parents and adopt the others? This is so confusing so huge apologies, but I am still trying to go through the logistics in my head!! If anyone has managed to break this seemingly endless cycle please let me know!
To sum this all up, I am basically wondering how I would break the cycle of having gerbils? I absolutely love having them but I don’t want to have to keep bonding them when one suddenly passes, and if there was a way I could break this cycle I would love to find out how!!
Thank you! 

ps. Sorry for all the confusing wording there doesn’t seem to be a right way to say all of this 😅

[LilyandDaisy]

Hello,

Breeding Sky is an option, though you'd probably want to do it soon before she gets much older. Breeding is often discouraged because many people go into without doing proper research or planning, but that's not you so that's okay

The best option would be to approach a breeder and ask if they have any adult males you could have for breeding. Getting a young male pup is an option but they might not mate for a couple of months, occasionally even longer.

Gerbils mate again immediately after giving birth, so it's very difficult to avoid a second litter. So typically if you breed gerbils you have to accept you will have a minimum of two litters. The parents should really be kept together while the first litter is growing up as it can be hard on a new mother to raise a first litter alone. When the pups are around 3-4 weeks old, you can remove the dad, and then introduce his sons to him after they are weaned. When the pups are about 7 weeks old, you can remove them from their parents in the pairs/groups (pairs are best) you want to adopt them out in.

A dad can stay with a couple of his sons but females really do best in pairs, even when they're mother and daughters. A trio is likely to declan and then you have another, or if you're very unlucky, three lone gerbils to find new friends for! But if you keep a single daughter with her, you're going to have same issue in a couple of years when Sky dies and you have a lone gerbil again. And of course there's no guarantee she would have any girls at all.

Any time you breed, you always have to take into account that you might end up with dozens of cages, in the worst case scenario that you get large litters and can't find homes for them. If you're really unlucky, you might even remove the dad too late and end up with a third litter. That happened to someone I know and the third litter had ten pups!

So breeding is fine to to do, if it's want you really want to do and it's done responsibly, but I wouldn't necessarily look to it as a way to get out of the gerbil-keeping cycle. If anything it's going to trap you in the cycle even deeper because you'll end up with more clans, and more gerbils that will eventually need repairing.