Breed
gerbils only once... for the kids
This
may be a very educative way to learn about life to breed some gerbils at
home with the kids. You can show the baby's development and make them
discover the secrets of life!
But you must know that there are some details to know before
to start anything. I often see peoples entering a pet store with 15 or 20
gerbils in a cage and say: "take them, I got too much of them. I
bought a pair for my kids and I lost control." If you don't want this
story to happen to you, continue reading!!
The first thing to do is choose a pair that is
not related. Go to different Petshops to be sure, or the best thing to do is to
find a breeder in your region. Make sure your gerbils are between 1 month or 2,
the introduction to each other will be easier. Make sure that the 2 gerbils you
have are the best 2 you could find in town; the most docile, nice, sociable,
curious and healthy.
Once
everyone is set(I take for granted to you red/read/or will read the rest of the
website), if you are lucky and that the gerbils are adults, you should have
babies!
How
to do
Obviously, if you keep the female and the male
together, you'll have babies each month or so. And if you red the previous page
about "Mating a lonely gerbil" you know that it's not a good idea to
remove the male right after they'll mate. So, the answer is to make 2 litters!
Step
1: Litter #1
They
mate, the female get pregnant, the babies arrive. Leave the father with his
family even if they will mate again the same day, usually in the evening.
Step
2: Separation of the pair
The father will help the mother by taking care of
the babies too. He will keep them warm and clean them. His presence will also
make the mother calmer and more attentive to her babies and also friendlier
toward you. When the pups will be 3 weeks old, the female will begin to look
pregnant again. It's going to be time to think about removing the father. You
can wait the day of the second litter or take him out now just to be sure they
won't mate while you're not there! At the same time, take the young males and
move them with dad in another tank. Leave one or two young girls with mom.
They will help her with her new litter. If there isn't any girl, keep a male
with her. If this litter was big, place the other babies in different tanks
following the sexes.
Step
3: Litter #2
The young girls left with the mother will help
her taking care of her next litter. There won't be any other litter for now,
if you split all boys from girls... including from dad.
Step
4: Place everyone!
One the second litter have reached one month or
2, it's going to be time to split everyone by sex. You can try to put the
young males with their older brothers in a new tank. But respect the maximum
number of gerbils with the size of the tank. Eight, one month old gerbils in a
10 gallons, ok, but eight 3 months old in a 10 gallons, it's squeezed!
Once everyone is split by sexes, you can keep them like that for a long time,
until you find new homes for everyone. You won’t have to worry about over
population!
