Another Happy Addition to My Little Family

[Manix]

Yesterday after work I headed over to my favorite petstore. This store is soon to be aquaria related only, so they are selling all of their non aquaria items and animals at half price. I thought I'd take the opportunity to stock up on some food, ornacycline (for future emercencies!) and toys. When I had found all the items I needed I decided to take a look at their rodent/reptile room. Low and behold, there sits a 10 gallon full of baby Nutmegs! How could this be? They claimed they had NO gerbils last week when I was looking! Apparently, they were still too young to sell last week and were being kept in the back room. At this point in my story you can pretty much guess what I did can't you? Yes, I bought another baby. It took all of my will power not to by the entire fuzzy family, Mom and Dad and all! They were all exceptionally friendly.
This store is the only store in my area to have EVER sold nutmegs, and they have always sold from their own breeding pairs. The chances were very good that this family is related to Punkin. The Dad could quite possibly be either his father or brother, meaning the baby I bought last night is either his half brother/sister or niece/nephew. The mother was to young to have also been Punkins.
When I placed my hand in the cage, not one of the 9 gerbils nipped, they simply sniffed and hopped around...except this one pup. He/she was the only one to repeatly step into my hand and allow me to pick it up. At this point point I could no longer resist, I did not care what sex it was, I brought it home. The store manager even gave me their "tank topper" display when he realized he had nothing I could use and a tank devider.
While the baby is still about a week away from telling for sure what it is, I'm hoping for a boy. While I would not mind a girl, I do not think it's wise for Punkin to be producing pups with such presumably close kin. I'm not sure what I'll do if it does turn out to be a girl!
Punkin, took the baby in immediatly without questions. He showed no sign of aggression or nervousness when I presented my hand that now smelled like the entire baby's family. I'm thrilled! I couldn't beleive how quickly they bonded. I beleive there may be a few spats down the road though...they baby shows the same defiant streak as Punkin.
I'm naming the baby Peanut.

Of course my parents weren't too thrilled to have another rodent in the house. Even my Dad who usually doesn't care about my little Zoo was shocked when I came home with another. My mother nearly went balistic until she saw Peanut. She stopped mid-lecture and said he was very cute... All further lecture stopped when I assured her there would be no more. My goal is met. Both my gerbils now have companions that they seem pleased to share their homes with. Now on those days when I'm not home they will have someone to play with and keep them company.

Pictures coming soon!

[doomgerbiluk]

lol
u soppy thing
u r right that inbreeding can be a problem in gerbils and anywya if you had not considered babies and your parents have said no more rodents...............
From the other side they are likely uncle and nephew/niece which would be backbreeding and is more acceptable when done with care.
the problem that would then arise would be if the gerbils are already inbred, not uncommon in pet shop gerbisl I'm afraid
Fingers crossed peanut is a boy

[Manix]

How old do the babies have to be to determine their sex? I'm pretty sure this one is younger than Stimpy who is 8 or 9 weeks.

[queenofthenile]

Many people can sex gerbils from the day they are born. You should be able to sex the pup fairly easily at this point. You can see my website here:
www.gerbilbreeding.com/sexing.htm

If it turns out the baby is a girl, go back to the store and see if you can just switch - boy for girl. If not, you will need to neuter the male which is very expensive . Obviously your parents don't want you producing more little furries. Hopefully the little one is a boy!

[Manix]

They (the parents) are not the ones responsible for my animals. If they do not wish for me to move out at the this time, they will tolerate my fuzzy friends. They do not impede on them in any way. If the gerbil is a girl, I will keep her, perhaps not with punkin, but I will keep her none the less. Mom has already admitted she would rather have babies than pay to nueter a gerbil...not that it would be HER bill anyway. However, this is her mind set. If something can in anyway offend her senses, it is to be avoided. Once she sees that it in no way affects her, she is generally excepting of it.
Take my fish tanks for example. She absolutely DESPISES my fish. She hates them with a passion. To her, they are a nuisance. Yet she does not have to clean them or keep them up. In reality, she does pay for the fraction of water and electricity they use. Yet this has never occured to her as a good argument to force me to quit that portion of my hobby. I likewise keep my mouth shut. She stopped complaining about the tanks when she realized how attractive they can be. She could only remember the 10 gallon she had when she was little; a smelly, bothersome mess. So, of course, she related this to my tanks.
The case is similer with the gerbils. I used to keep hamsters. Smelly creatures who were undeniably irritable. She does not see the difference in the two animals habits, she's never bothered to understand why gerbils are nicer and cleaner. So obviously, she is scared to death that 4 gerbils are going to smell terrible.

I do not plan to breed gerbils at this time. Perhaps one day when I do not have to worry about my car breaking down, rent, or the fact that my job ends in two weeks (given the helicoptor makes it off the ground Monday without catching fire).

However, it pays to be informed. If Peanut is niece or sister to Punkin, and were allowed to produce even 1 litter. What would be a propable outcome? This is a theoretical question only. I do not intend to let this happen becuase even if it did, I would still need to seperate Peanut and Punkin rather than add the stress of nuetering to Punkin or the the stress of a lifetime of pregnacies to Peanut. I would much rather seperate them now before they get attached to having another gerbil for company.
But the question still nags at me? What are the chances of a healthy litter? Would two nutmegs produce nutmegs or a mix of black, honey and nutmeg?

[doomgerbiluk]

The likelihood is that all the pups would be healthy
BUT if there is any propensity to respiratory problems, kinked tails, fits etc that might have a genetic origin you could reinforce that by adding the causative genes together and produce gerbils with a higher risk of these problems
In this case you would be advised to do 3 things
1) seperate the pair
2) outbreed any healthy pups to unrelated gerbils if you wished to continue breeding the line
3) NEVER breed from any pups with the above symptoms

BUT you would at least be able to keep a couple of sons with dad (male colonies work well and my biggest at present is 11) and maybe one or two girls with mum (my biggest female colony is 6)
So one option would be to allow one litter and keep the same sex pups with the same sex parent
first litters are (usually) small, especally with related gerbils BUT you must be aware there is a risk of problems and be prepared for that. (never count on it, one of my females had a first litter if 8!!!!)

[Manix]

Thanks Doom. I think it would be better for everyone if Peanut is a boy. I would hate to have to seperate him/her from Punkin, but it would most definatly be better than risking any of the problems resulting from close blood ties. Not to mention I wouldn't be able to part with any of the babies...I would take one look at them, then start naming, then it would be all over with. UGH! I would make a terrible breeder, I would never be able to part with them!

[doomgerbiluk]

I think your right BUT if you contact the shop and ask whether they inbreed (explaining your dilemma) maybe they could set your mind at rest
at most they are half siblings so one litter if you wanted to deal with it that way would probably not be harmful
If you than seperated them before the pups came you would prevent further pregnancy and the male would be fine alone till the pups reached 5 weeks at which point you add the boys and hey presto..ready made gerbil colony
but you are correct that there are (allbeit small) risks
good luck and fingers crossed peanut is male

oh and DO NOT go back and get the rest of the family

[Manix]

I'm 70% sure Peanut is a boy. Another week, maybe two, and hopefully I'll be able to tell for sure. And don't worry, I'm avoiding the pet store at all costs until the babies are sold!

Back to solving the brush algae issue in the fish tank...