More gerbils anyone?
By kris182_2000
@kris182_2000 (5469)
Canada
October 28, 2011 9:41am CST
A couple of weeks ago, we decided to see if 2 babies from the 2nd litter would mate. We wanted to see what the gray mother would produce for a litter.
So we put 2 of them together, and just waited. After a few days, we split them up again.
Last week, it looked like Smokey was starting to bulge out a bit, and I confirmed it this morning.
She is indeed pregnant.
This weekend, I'll be setting up the small tank, and put her there so she can have her babies.
I'd said in the past that I didn't want any more babies, but this is an exception. Maybe we'll get a litter of gray babies this time instead of black ones.
I'm not sure when she'll have them, but it will be in the next week or so I think.
We'll see what happens.
1 person likes this
4 responses
@GardenGerty (160909)
• United States
28 Oct 11
It will be interesting to see how they turn out. I hope you do not have any trouble finding homes for them when it is time.
@kris182_2000 (5469)
• Canada
28 Oct 11
I think it will be easier this time if most of them turn out gray. But it doesn't matter, I'll do what I can to get them homes.
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
28 Oct 11
I guess it mostly depends on what alleles each of the gray babies got from the parents. I looked at the site: http://www.gerbilbreeding.com/gene.htm. I found it interesting about the different colors. Apparently what causes the coat to be grey is the absence of a yellow band on the hair and that is a recessive gene. The only way a grey baby will come is if both parents have at least one copy of that gene. If both have two copies, then all offspring will be gray, but if each only has one copy, I think there will only be 25% of the offspring gray. If one parent has two copies and the other only has one, then I think it is 50% (possibly 75, but I don't remember for sure). Good luck with this batch.
@kris182_2000 (5469)
• Canada
28 Oct 11
Well, it will be a complete surprise when the babies come, and I'm looking forward to it.
I can't wait to see how many she has, and how many survive. Maybe she'll be better than her mother.
I would have loved to have mated both gray gerbils, but Tuffy is deformed and it was not worth the risk to breed them.
When they get here, I'll post about them, and I'll have pictures to follow when they get their fur.
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
28 Oct 11
Hi, kris.....How do you know when a gerbil is ready to mate? How many do you have now? What kind of price do you charge for one of the grays? Are the grays fairly rare? I've only had cats and dogs and don't know much about gerbils.
You've got so many irons in the fire that I wonder how you know whether you're coming or going sometime. How are the cats? What's the latest on Tiger?
Good luck with your job search. I've been without a computer and have probably missed some of your updates. Hope all is going well.
@kris182_2000 (5469)
• Canada
28 Oct 11
We have 8 gerbils now.
The gray's are supposed to be more popular than the black ones, so they should be easier to find homes for.
I know that when we had the first gray female, the woman who took her insisted on getting her. When we found out that another one was female, she took her as well.
The cats are fine. Tiger is doing fine outside, keeps coming for food but will not come in.
Everything is going pretty well so far, can't really complain now.
@courtknee525 (3742)
• United States
28 Oct 11
It's ok to mate 2 babies from the same litter? I thought there were all kinds of problems related to doing that in any species. And wow, I didn't know they could reproduce so fast!! I guess it's because their lifespan isn't very long
