Hello gerbil lovers,
My husband and I are fairly new at breeding gerbils. We didn�t set out to breed, but it seems we have ourselves almost constantly surrounded with pups these last few months. We live in Snohomish, Washington and the first gerbil I got was one my 3 cats had cornered outside in a bush. I don�t know why, but I was curious as to what they wanted so bad in the bush, so I went out to see� it was the most unusual looking "mouse" I have every seen � silvery in color with black "Siamese cat-like" like points on it. To make a long story short, I made my husband come outside and look, we captured it (her, it was a female), took her to Petsmart store and asked them what it was. They said that she was a "gerbil". So I got her some gerbil supplies and an old aquarium and we had ourselves a gerbil named "Gerbie" � she is the sweetest most cutest little gerbil in the world I think. Very laid back and loving � we have no idea how long she had been outside or how she survived even, but I am thinking she was quite happy to see us, as she ran straight into a tiny old hamster cage I had in the house. Time went by and we read up everything we could on gerbils and we are fascinated by her and the things she does every day. We got her a girlfriend at first and didn�t know that they had to be introduced, so they ended up in a ball and we pulled the new younger one out in time and saved her from death by Gerbie.
Several weeks went by and we were at the pet store and I saw some little "black" (I don�t know the colors) pups about 8 weeks old with white from their chin down their tummies� and I picked out a male and we did the split cage method� 2 days later Gerbie was sleeping as close as she could to the mesh separating them so we put them together. Gerbie knocked Jin (what we named the little black male) down and groomed him really well and he squeaked. We looked it up on the internet again (Gerbil behavior) and we figured that we a good thing. So now they are living happily ever after in a huge cage and both spoiled little gerbils.
Recently we also picked up a breeding pair � I think they are spotted agouti color? (it seemed like a good idea at the time) and I don�t know what we were thinking, but I guess we thought we wanted to get pups since they looked so cute and our hopes of Gerbie and Jin having pups had faded, as we figure there must be something wrong, though we don�t know what it is, but there are no pups and Gerbie doesn�t seem as interested in making pups as Jin does. So now we have Daddy Stripe and Mommy Dot and since we got them, we have figured out that we can�t put Stripe with Gerbie because it won�t work and Jin will be upset and we can�t put Dot with Jin, as she is in love with Stripe. I mean these 2 are in love. And she has been having pups of 4-6 a litter for the last few months. So far we have been lucky and found homes for the little cuties.
Right now we have 6 pups that were fat and healthy from the start, except one (I named Bambi) has a respiratory problem I think and so we are giving her antibiotics and she seems to be doing better. My question is how do I tell people what color they are? I don�t know how to describe their colors� I see 3 identical "brown" triplets and 3 identical "white" triplets� and they are almost 5 weeks old now. They are "popping" and running all over the place� and poor Dot is pregnant again and she looks fat and miserable and cranky. Are the brown ones considered Agouti? They have no spots or anything on them. And the white ones have real fluffy longer fur and kind of a grey-ish pigment that shows thru on their tails and ears and around their eyes, and their eyes are black. When I look at the pictures on the gerbil colour pages, I see lots of "white" gerbils so I am confused now.
Also, the other question I have it that since we have got Stripe and Dot, Stripe is a really nice guy, a true gentleman, a great father and a fan of running in his wheel almost constantly. Dot, on the other hand, since we have ever had her� or should I say from the moment we took her out of the box from the pet store to put her in her cage, she must have bit me about 20 times so far (well close anyway). And when she bites it is vicious. She hangs on to my fingers with her teeth sunk in as far as she can get them and I literally have had to shake her off. What do you think is her problem? I don�t understand. We can�t do anything with her and nobody will touch her anymore because we are afraid of her. The other day I was fixing something in her cage and she ran from one end of the cage to where my hand was just to get her chompers on me and hear me scream in pain and watch the blood come out � my fingers are covered in bandaids. Why is she so nasty? I don�t think there is any hope for her as I�ve tried to make friends and she just seems to hate humans. BUT she is a GREAT mother, I must give her that.
Sorry I wrote so long. I hope it is okay. I have never used this mailing list before so I don�t know if there are rules or how exactly it works.
Thank you in advance for any advice or help. Also, we plan on being responsible for any and all gerbils or gerbils pups we have and have decided to keep them all if we can't find homes for them. We would never want to hurt the little guys and we are trying to make sure that if a pet store gets them that they try and sell them in "pairs". I told the pet store with the last litter that if the 2 that are left don't get sold that I will take them back and take care of them forever if I have to.
TTYL
Shelley and Don
Snohomish, WA
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