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Post by igork on Feb 29, 2004 12:33:44 GMT -8
I think I was a bit irresponsible when I bought my two Gerbils... I had already had a Hamster... and I wanted another one... but all the hamsters in the pet shop looked ugly and unhealthy so I saw these three little devil that had long tail and were very fast... It was an aldult male, an adult female and a young (don't know what) gerbil... I liked them and wanted to have the male and the female to breed so I bought them... but I thought it was like taking care of hamsters (the pet shop didn't instruct me how to take care of them and they were very cruel with them as they held them by tail).
So, I bought them but I didn't know about taming... so I played with them without taming... nowadays, they run from me.. I'm always faster but they try to escape... so I was wondering... can I tame them now? how do I do it?
Another thing... my 2 gerbils seems to be of the same especie (and the sibling that was left in the pet shop was from the same too)
The base of their fur is black (we can see this if we move the fur), the middle is bege and the top is kind of white... the top of the body seems bege and the belly is white... the tail is the same colour as the body, they have red eyes and pink paws... (btw, what's this especie?)
So I was wondering... the 2 seems to be from the same especie so could it be that they are brother and sister? If so isn't it dangerous? They just had litter, so is it possible to be malformed pups?
Also, it's very rare in the city I live to find gerbils... I was lucky... so I'm afraid that when they sell my gerbils they may sell one male and one female (and they are bothers!) and they may have more pups! And more inbreeding! So is it dangerous? What should I do?
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Post by queenofthenile on Feb 29, 2004 16:54:08 GMT -8
It is very possible that your gerbils are brother and sister. Most gerbils found in the same cage at pet stores are. Having malformed pups is more likely with a brother-sister pair than from two different litters but I would not worry to much. There are not that many genetic deformities that occur in Mongolian gerbils. If you do not feel safe selling to pet stores, please stop breeding now! I know that you must be worried about more inbreeding and if the store can't guarantee they will not sell a boy and girl together, this is not good. Also, it sounds as if the store was not treating them well. If you can't find a store that treats the gerbils well or one that refuses to sell a boy and girl together, then stop breeding now. Otherwise, you will be knee-deep in gerbils and it can be hard to take care of all of them. Do your gerbils look like this?  www.petermaas.nl/gerbils/english.htmIf so, they are agouti mongolian gerbils. I don't know what else they can be if they aren't... About taming, do not chase them! They will think you are a predator and this will make them more scared. Start by gently introducing your hand in the tank several times a day over a week or so. Place your palm face down on the tank bottom. Once the gerbils feel safe sniffing and sitting on / exploring your hand, you can gradually lift your hand off of the ground. Go only an inch at a time, until they feel comfortable getting lifted off the ground. Eventually, you will be holding and playing with your gerbils!  |
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Post by Igork1 on Feb 29, 2004 19:07:07 GMT -8
I think I can give them out to some people... but stop breeding is too sad! It's so fun to see many puppies lying around! And I will keep one and buy another to breed so that there are no more inbreeding... but if I do that I'll have another couple, so I'll see if there's a way to castrate the male number 1 (Glück Colhudo).
I don't think they are that of that kind, queen. It's similar but:
1. The eyes are red.
2. Just the inside of the fur is black, or maybe gray the rest is bege and the top of the fur is soft white so the top of their body has a bege aspect.
3. The ear is rose as so is the feet and the nails.
4. The big nose hairs are white.
5. The tip of the tail is not black.
On overral they are less black and more light golden (or bege).
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Post by queenofthenile on Feb 29, 2004 19:21:35 GMT -8
Maybe this, this is an argente golden. The base fur is grey and the tips are orange.  www.petermaas.nl/gerbils/english.htmIf it's not that, than I have no more guesses ;D. You can check out Peter's colours page here if you want to figure it out yourself... www.petermaas.nl/gerbils/english.htmAs for breeding, if you can find better homes than the petstore, that is great! Instead of getting the male neutered, you could pair him up with one of his sons. Then you could pair up the mother with a new mate. Neutering gerbils is expensive, so pairing the male up with a son might be a good option. |
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Post by Igork1 on Feb 29, 2004 19:44:25 GMT -8
Yes! Maybe that's the gerbil I have... but I think it may be argente cream, I dunno when the puppies grow up I'll make the fenotype calculation to see what is it.
Yes, you're right... I can't spend to much money... but I think it will be difficult to introduce the gerbils won't it? Whatever, I'll try.
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Post by queenofthenile on Feb 29, 2004 19:45:57 GMT -8
It isn't very hard to introduce breeding pairs. If you leave the mother by herself for a week, she will be lonely and will accept a mate better. Peter has some excellent tips on introducing gerbils... www.petermaas.nl/gerbils/english.htm |
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Mar 1, 2004 4:24:40 GMT -8
As queenofthenile told here, it is the best to pair the male to one (or more) of his sons. After that you can keep them or sell them, or of course you can also give them away for free.
I had never had any real problem with introducing breeding pairs, but I can recommend the split-cage method.
The split-cage method:
1. Get yourself a tank or cage that you can split into two halves in a way that means that the gerbils on each side can see and smell one another but cannot bite or scratch one another through the bars.
2. Place one gerbil one side of the partition and the other on the other side.
3. Every two hours or so swap the gerbils around.
4. Do this for at least three days.
5. Remove the partition.
6. Watch your gerbils carefully for at least three hours. If they start to fight then start again from stage 2 above.
You can also place both your gerbils after using this method in another clean cage, when they every time keep fighting after removing the partition. They will come both in a new territory that don't belong to both gerbils. The other gerbil will be the only familiar thing they see and smell. You need to place enough hiding places in the new cage. Watch your gerbil again carefully for at least three hours.
About the colour if the gerbils! What colour do the pups have, which eye colour, back and belly colour, etc? And a picture would also help a lot. By reading your description of the colour it could indeed be a argente golden or a argente cream.
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Post by Igork1 on Mar 1, 2004 18:39:10 GMT -8
About the colours of the pups... I don't know yet... I can still see through their bellies when they get milked... however, it seems to be going very well! They are a little larger now, their ears seem to be bigger and so is the tail...
But today something shocked me... I have one naughty pup which scaped from the "nest" it can barely move around but it was really fast in comparison with the other puppies. But then the male saw it outside and started biting his foot! I thought it was going to be eaten so I threw some food inside the cage and the male let the pup go and ate the food...
The male might have been hungry, but it's not my fault! My gerbils do something very funny... they throw wood shavings on the food and the food gets completly covered... I don't know if they still dig and eat but I usually throw more fearing they are too dumb to eat the buried food...
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Post by queenofthenile on Mar 1, 2004 19:27:35 GMT -8
Gerbils cover up their food to help them hide it from other animals. Trust me, they know it's there  . The aggression by the father may be caused by the fact that the cage is too small (did you get a bigger cage?), or the male may have been trying to pick up the pup to carry it back to the nest. It wouldn't have been because he was hungry. |
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Mar 3, 2004 5:45:32 GMT -8
I think the same as queenofthenile! It could also be that the male was trying to pick up the pup to bring it back to the nest. I think it was his first time, so maybe he didn't know exactly how or it didn't went well. But keep an eye on it! |
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Post by Igork1 on Mar 4, 2004 14:24:51 GMT -8
Actually, it was their second time.
When we bought them at the pet shop they had their son with them (already weaned). It had been their first litter so they had just 1.
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Mar 6, 2004 8:18:20 GMT -8
Than keep a close eye on the male! |
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. The aggression by the father may be caused by the fact that the cage is too small (did you get a bigger cage?), or the male may have been trying to pick up the pup to carry it back to the nest. It wouldn't have been because he was hungry.