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Post by brittanie on May 1, 2004 14:14:22 GMT -8
I heard that if I introduce gerbils from seperate litters that one will eventually kill the other one, is that true? or is it safe to get more gerbils?
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Post by j on May 2, 2004 2:52:36 GMT -8
Depends on what you mean and are trying to do.. What sexes are you trying to introduce? How old are they? How many did you want to introduce?
If you just want to introduce 2 gerbils, different litters... yes it's possible if done right.
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Post by brittanie on May 2, 2004 5:58:53 GMT -8
I have two female gerbils, , but I wanted to know if maybe one day I see a lonely gerbil by itself am I going to be able to bring this gerbil home to the cage with the girls or is that giving the lonely gerbil a deeath certificate?
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on May 2, 2004 7:16:57 GMT -8
If the females are older than 8-10 weeks, I think the two females will not except the new gerbil and because it cannnot leave the cage will be killed if you won't intervene. I would not recommend it to introduce a new gerbil into an existing adult gerbil group (2 or more). When they are younger than 8-10 weeks it is possible! So if you want a larger group it is best to introduce several pups together (same gender)! That can ce from 1 litter but also from other litters! But only safely when they are younger than 8-10 weeks old. And sometimes when they are a bit older when they are very easy, but most of the times it wil give problems with older gerbils.
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Post by j on May 2, 2004 8:28:32 GMT -8
I have two female gerbils, , but I wanted to know if maybe one day I see a lonely gerbil by itself am I going to be able to bring this gerbil home to the cage with the girls or is that giving the lonely gerbil a deeath certificate? Yeah, that's really not a good idea. It's possible, but it's very risky. Your females are already in a clan..Females are more aggressive and territorial and don't usually accept another gerbil that easily. They've already sorted out their dominance issues. If you found a really young 4-5 week old pup you'd have a chance. But then once the pup gets older, there could be dominance fights. You're always going to see lone gerbils in petstores..ya can't take them all home. lol If you just want more gerbils and a bigger clan, then your best option would be to just get as many 5-6 week olds as you want from the same litter, or even mixed litters if theyre the same age.
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Post by brittanie on May 2, 2004 13:40:20 GMT -8
ya I figured as much, I just feel bad because they're such social animals and they shouldn't be alone. stupid pet stores, it should almost be a requirement to get more then one, or not leave one standing alone!
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Post by j on May 4, 2004 20:13:39 GMT -8
Yeah I know. What pisses me off is how a lot of parents buy them for their kids and they only get their kid 1 gerbi. They don't know to get more then one gerbil. Then they bring the gerbil back to the petstore because it's miserable. Ya would think the petshops would do some research on gerbils and inform customers to get more then one.. they would even make more money that way! Stupid petshop I buy catfood in sells 4 week old gerbils. They breed them themselves and start selling at around 4 weeks. I almost took some.
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Post by brittanie on May 4, 2004 20:19:13 GMT -8
awwwwwww! I have no idea how to tell how old mine are, cause I got them less then 3 weeks ago from a pet shop but I've never had gerbils before so I don't know how to tell
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on May 9, 2004 5:00:53 GMT -8
How big are they?
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Post by brittanie on May 9, 2004 6:56:51 GMT -8
haha, that question with me would get a response of "normal gerbil size" lol!! although yesterday I saw gerbils at corbrets store nd they were WAY bigger then my gerbils so I"m thinking mine might be babies still?? or just teens atleast!
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on May 9, 2004 7:47:35 GMT -8
If the other ones where bigger, I think they are still young too!
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