trios can work just fine, given enough space and food, but usually works better with males we had 4 males in a 20H who were very bonded and never fought when we have a breeder who loses a mate, we try to set them up with 2 little ones of the same sex so when the older one passes on, the remaining two still have each other with your current setup you will have to be very watchful of introducing another pup, especially since the two bonded ones are pretty old (to us pretty old being 4mos and older, it becomes more and more difficult to smoothly change their lifestyles after 3-4mos or so in our experience) you could try a 3-way split so everyone can smell/see each other but not touch each other (this means splitting up the first two to make their bond more flexible in accepting another) the new gerbie should definitely be young! 5-8wks
we would say that the pair you have being only 4mos apart is not that far apart that you should be too concerned maybe you should simply consider adopting 2 new pups when the time comes that one of your current pair passes on attempting a new bond arrangement now may be more traumatic for all of those involved (the original pair and the new pup) vs. one traumatic event for one gerbie (only one of the original pair grieving) -- ron & traci things-that-squeak > From: The Jeu-jeu Gerbils <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: The Jeu-jeu Gerbils <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 14:11:41 -0700 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Pairs and trios question > > Hi everyone, > > I'm a little confused and hope someone can straighten this out for me. > > I was under the impression that gerbil pairs (same or opposite sex) are the > best > set-ups per cage. However, I got to thinking that in the future, one is sure > to > leave ahead of the other. Then what'll happen to the one left behind if it's > not a > loner? By that time it'll be fairly old, and isn't that a problem when it > comes to > introducing a new gerbil? How should that be solved? > > On the other hand, I've been reading about some set-ups where trios (same sex) > get > along fine. Currently I have two males together, an 8 months-old and a 4 > months-old. They get along fabulously. To avoid eventually one being left > alone > down the road, should I try to introduce a third gerbil to the cage now? If > so, > should it be a baby (i.e. 6 weeks-old or so)? How should the introduction be > done? > What are the chances of acceptance? > > Following that, if the trio intro works out, then down the road two will be > left. > At which time another new gerbil should be introduced to keep the pattern > going. > However, by then the two gerbils still alive will be well advanced in age... > will > they still accept a new gerbil? > > Thanks, > > Amy > The Jeu-jeu Gerbils > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Listen to your Yahoo! Mail messages from any phone. > http://phone.yahoo.com
