Linda Mooring <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
Sorry to hear about what happened.
>
>So it has been a couple of weeks now, and I'm wondering what to do. My
>son would like his own gerbil, but I don't want to buy another aquarium
>and I'm worried that I'll never be able to introduce a new gerbil to Shorty.
>Is it worth trying? I considered breeding Simba and Shorty because then
>at least I could keep the females together in one cage, then work hard to
>introduce Shorty to any males we got in a litter. Then I did some reading
>that recommended against any breeding unless I want to "breed superior
>individuals that will make potential show exhibits" or "try and develop
>better, or new, colors and patterns."
I can think of other good reasons, but of course the import thing is to
breed responsibly, and only when you know exactly what you will do with
any offspring.
It is not unusual for solitary gerbils to not be so well adjusted to
humans. What will probably work is introducing a very young male gerbil
to your older male. Adult males see no threat in much smaller gerbils
and will not usually fight with them. A split cage can help the
introduction, but is not normally necessary with a five or six week old
male.
Introducing to a solitary female is much harder and definitely would
involve a split cage.
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/intro.htm
Has advice on introducing gerbils.
--
Julian
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
National Gerbil Society
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
