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Post by birchmoon on Sept 6, 2004 14:06:13 GMT -8
I went to the pet store to get a roommate for Sesame, one of my mongolian gerbils. I found this little girl who is just the most adorable thing, and she was all alone and had been in a fight, so I brought her home. I thought she looked a bit different at the store, but didn't notice how different until I put her in the split tank next to Sesame. I believe she is a breed of jird, but after looking at pics of every rodent species I could find online, I've come to realize that she looks like about a dozen of them!!! And I can't tell for sure what species she is. Also, if she is a different breed, then can I still keep her with Sesame, the mongolian? That could be why she was in a fight at the pet store, cause they put her with a gerbil? They seem to be getting used to each other. Sesame doesn't lunge at the screen anymore. Rocky, the unknown new girl, is very mild tempered and doesn't seem to care about Sesame being there at all. Rocky doesn't seem to dig or chew as much as Sesame either. Here's a link to some pics of her. I did the best I could, but I have a cruddy digital camera. Any ideas what she is? pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/birchmoon_hq/album?.dir=1206&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos
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Post by j on Sept 6, 2004 14:41:07 GMT -8
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Post by birchmoon on Sept 6, 2004 16:12:09 GMT -8
I don't know. I think the bushy tailed jird has a more pointed face than Rocky, and also a bushier tail. HOWEVER, she may still be a baby and just not gotten the tail fuzz yet. My best guess is a persian jird. But there are so many that are so similar.
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Post by RyanF on Sept 6, 2004 16:33:36 GMT -8
It looks like a mongolian to me.
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Post by j on Sept 6, 2004 16:40:14 GMT -8
It looks like a mongolian to me. I kind of thought so too... Just looked like a pup to me at first because it looks smaller. But then in another pic it did look a little different. Don't jirds usually have big ears.. I can't really tell if his ears are big or not.. Whatever it is.. still looks like a baby. Andrea would know. She posted persians here.. gerbilforum.proboards21.com/index.cgi?board=photos&action=display&thread=1089720729
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Post by RyanF on Sept 6, 2004 16:43:21 GMT -8
That is definently a mongolian. It sure looks like. We might need to wait and see though.
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Post by queenofthenile on Sept 6, 2004 16:54:13 GMT -8
Did you get your other gerbil when it was a bit older? Because Rocky may look different because she still is a baby. She sure looks like a mongolian gerbil to me. A don't know of a single petstore that sells gerbils other than mongolians (except perhaps in the UK).
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Post by j on Sept 6, 2004 17:38:51 GMT -8
I've heard of jirds in petshops in the uK before.. She's probably from the UK.. most US people don't even know what a jird is..lol If this helps... It's a young mongolian gerbil (agouti colored) next to a full grown adult gerbil.. Yours kind of looks like it..But I can't see it's face too good..
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Post by birchmoon on Sept 6, 2004 18:39:51 GMT -8
We got all of our gerbils (11 of them) when they were already adults. A breeder near my home had to get rid of her critters. Guess Rocky just needs some more growin' time to become her full gerbilness. I don't know though...she really looks different next to Sesame. What about the living arrangments? If she is not a mongolian, will she get along with Sesame? I'll try to get some better pics of her. Thanks everyone for the input!
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Post by andrea on Sept 6, 2004 23:32:21 GMT -8
She looks mongolian to me, just she has a great bush on her tail. Mongolians are ment to have a brush on the end of there tails, but after years of breeding for colour its hard to get a good brush.
Its definatly not a persian as persians are a lot bigger (about the size of rat) and the bushy tailed jird have very bushy tails and big ears, they also have soft fur like chincillas. Also it can't be a sundavalls or shaws as again they are a lot bigger.
Also mongolians can have variating pointyness of the nose, our "show quality" gerbil ( as the slightly pointy nose is in the standard) have a lot more pointy a nose than our breeding/pet gerbils.
Also jirds are very rarly found in pet shops and even then it will be a family run type pet store. There was a time when shaws jirds could be found in pet stores but now the big chains like Pets at home have taken over and all the small pet stores shut they ar egetting harder to get hold of. Persians here are still quite rare and the NGS are trying to get some more imported as all the ones here decend from the same pair brought in in 1997, which means now breeding problems from inbreeding are arising. A friend of ours have taken our two female persians to use in a breeding program to try and get some numbers as they are slowly dying out here. Also the sundavall here are getting almost inpossible to get hold of as the select few breeders stocks are getting old.
The bushy tailed jirds like the two we have are hard to get hold of and we had to pay a substantional amount of money for them and they came from the very top of scotland. I am only aware of 2 breeders in the UK.
Hoping to be getting a breeding pair of cheesmans in the next few weeks, its just stuch a shame we do not have the space to breed the bigger species.
Andrea
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Post by andrea on Sept 7, 2004 12:36:59 GMT -8
Oh and just to confuse you all the Mongolian gerbil isn't a gerbil at all its a jird (a meriones species) true gerbils are gerbillus species like the cheesman or pallid.. Hey just a bit of infor for you all to ponder, so yes technically she is a jird as is all our mongolians ;D
*Now sits and waits for SMARTARSE comments* LOL
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Sept 13, 2004 2:50:32 GMT -8
It is a Mongolian gerbil for sure, or indeed a Mongolian or Clawed Jird! The name gerbil for a Mongolian jird (Meriones unguiculatus) is used because most people use that word, but it is actually indeed a Jird. Meriones-species are Jirds, and Gerbillus-species are the true Gerbils!
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Post by queenofthenile on Sept 13, 2004 7:03:06 GMT -8
Oh no, you'll have to change the name to the 'Mongolian Jird forum' ;D.
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Post by birchmoon on Sept 13, 2004 12:11:58 GMT -8
I'm pretty sure she's a good ole' mongolian gerb. We've had her for just over a week and she's really grown. You can see a big difference in her appearance. She also has a roomie now and they get along great!
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Post by sandy2 on Sept 26, 2004 19:29:30 GMT -8
Umm...he? and she? Are you planning on breeding? She will come into estrus at about 8 weeks old (very, very soon). Pups will arrive 25 days later. Are you ready for that? Wouldn't it have been a better idea to have gotten same-sex partners? Just wondering...
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