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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 28, 2010 13:46:11 GMT -5
Breeder Males: 1 Breeder Females: 1 Current Litters: 0 Expected Litters: 0
I went to the reptile show today and a man there was selling gerbils for $4! I couldn't pass it up and bought a pair. The male is agouti and the female is black. I will update as they begin showing signs of expecting a litter.
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Post by 1 on Apr 1, 2010 21:25:40 GMT -5
Dose this work the same as rats and mice?
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 5, 2010 16:07:37 GMT -5
They are on the same food but gerbils are only bred in pairs instead of groups. I only have one pair right now, though I hope to get more when the next reptile show roles around. Of course, that is IF the same guy is there with $4 gerbils.
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Post by fuzzymom on May 8, 2010 12:12:54 GMT -5
Still no offspring from this pair. I'm keeping a close eye on them though. I will update when they have their first litter.
Since getting gerbils from stores is expensive (cheapest is $9 per gerbil), I might inbreed a little. I will try and get more gerbils from reptile shows if there is anyone selling them, but until then, I will have to inbreed my gerbils. If anything, I can add new blood to the colony a few times a year.
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Post by goingpostal on May 8, 2010 13:49:20 GMT -5
Mine took a long time to reproduce. Almost two months but I started out with weanlings as well.
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Post by horse656 on May 10, 2010 9:10:08 GMT -5
yea, i read somewhere that it take about a month or two to get them producing.
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Post by fuzzymom on May 17, 2010 13:14:08 GMT -5
Well they have been together for almost 2 months and still nothing. She doesn't even look pregnant. I'm positive I have a male and female but they are now 2x the size they were when I got them, so they are probably just now becoming mature enough to begin breeding. If I don't get babies by this summer I'm feeding them off and starting with a new pair.
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Post by carnivorouszoo on May 21, 2010 16:30:47 GMT -5
I bred gerbils for about 14 years. The begin having babies between the ages of 4 and 8 months. Breeding pairs given no breaks live about 3-5 years stopping producing around 3-4 years of age. When first introduced it can take 3 weeks to 3 months on average for them to actually be comfortable enough to breed. If they are kept in a quiet area and not disturbed at night (when most breeding happens) they will be more likely to produce as opposed to those in a frequented area. Good luck!
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Post by fuzzymom on May 22, 2010 14:07:13 GMT -5
Thanks for the info! They have been together for just about 2 months now. I'm not sure how old they are now, but the male seems to have doubled in size from the time I got him. The female is just a little bit smaller than he is.
The room they are in doesn't get much foot traffic. I am the only one that goes in there and it is usually during the day 2-3x to feed and water as needed and clean cages.
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Post by carnivorouszoo on May 23, 2010 8:59:16 GMT -5
Another thing you can do that with gerbils will increase their chance of breeding is to give them an empty cereal box. They will eventually chew it to nothing but having the "cave" will encourage them to want to populate. Also hanging a wheel from the roof of the cage (if in a tank with screen lid) will have them active enough to get their bodies more in gear. Having it attached to the lid will keep them from killing babies on it by accident. I would give a new box of some sort when they get the old one to about a fourth of its original size. I found that pairs with wheels and boxes bred more often than those without. If you had two or three pairs going at once you would be able to cross the lines to keep breeding going when you needed new pairs. Intros done before 3 months of age usually can be done without split caging but adults will beat each other sometimes to death without a proper intro, sounds like you got yours either together already or fairly young. Full grown gerbils are between the size of mice and serian hamsters. I've actually seen some a little bigger but those are from show lines. Gerbils are such fun!
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Post by 1 on May 30, 2010 20:28:25 GMT -5
what about like, a small hollow log, with rocks piled/glude on, with the back part coverd like a wall.http://holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=anything&thread=5231
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Post by fuzzymom on Jun 24, 2010 16:54:15 GMT -5
Well I caught the agouti buck in the act of mating her so hopefully in 3 or so weeks I should have baby gerbils. If I do get a litter out of this, I plan on holding back all females and finding males for them. No wonder these things are so expensive. Trying to get them to breed is like putting two rocks next to each other and expecting pebbles.
I'm interested to see what the babies will look like as well. The male is agouti (brown) and the female is jet black. I have no clue about gerbil genetics.
Oh and all males will be sold as pets or feeders. I need to bring in some money to begin upgrading my breeding set up. I can't do tanks forever for my other rodents. The gerbils will be kept in glass tanks though. I've heard they chew like crazy so I would not trust them in anything else.
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