New pair of Beautiful Gerbils!

[SnuggleHam]

I had been contemplating breeding gerbils again for a while. In fact before I even got hamsters I was thinking of gerbils instead as I had owned them in the past. But somehow my interest shifted towards hamsters and now back into gerbils also. I decided I like to try and breed them again, because my experience breeding them before was great! But I didn’t want just "any" color, so I sought out a Burmese female to place with Orlando, because I think these colorations are absolutely gorgeous as far as gerbil colors go.



Here are some pictures of my little gerbils.. I am so happy with them.. Maybe it’s just me because I own them but I find their coloring and coat color exceptionally beautiful!! They look so good together too. I can’t wait to see what they produce in their first litter!



Sam is the Burmese female and Orlando is the Siamese male. Its funny since putting Sam in the bin with Orlando he’s started to run inside his cardboard box and thump his feet like he’s warning of danger and protecting his female :P



http://www.hamstercentral.com/images/misc/samandorlando.jpg



http://www.hamstercentral.com/images/misc/orlando4.jpg http://www.hamstercentral.com/images/misc/sam.jpg



http://www.hamstercentral.com/images/misc/gerbilsetup.jpg http://www.hamstercentral.com/images/misc/gerbilsetup1.jpg



I have also made a small personal hobbyist breeding page about my pair and I am trying to get my site linked on breeder listings in the US.

http://www.geocities.com/gerbilpets

[Emma]

They are both very attractive gerbs Candace. Do you know about the genetics of gerbils, what is siamese x burmese likely to produce?

[SnuggleHam]

Well I'm still learning the gentics of it all, as far as I understand since both were born with the dominant color of Siamse and Burmese the pups should come out as either Siamese or Burmese.



Orlando's known genes is apprently: aacbchE*G*P*

Sam's known genes are apparently: aacbcbE*G*P*



Still I wont know for sure untill I see pups.



Sam's mother and father were a Siamese and Burmese, I know that. Orlando's parents are unknown, all I know is there were two other males in the cage with him that were black and one other that was a Siamese, but since gerbils are social I can't say for sure if all four were from the same litter or not.



Someone else on another forum thought there was a possibility I could get a PEW "Pink Eyed white" basically a white gerbil with pink eyes.. apprently the white ones are harder to find homes for.. I wonder why



All the same I can't wait to see their first litter. They are already paired and togther, Sam is three months old but apprently some females wont allow mating untill they are 5 to 6 months old.. so we will have to wait and see!

[babyboos]

I cartainly find a lot of people enquire about hamsters and are quite adamant about no red or pink eyes. they don't mind what colour, sex etc. but eyes seem quite important. I like showing them my Minks and Doves which have very dary red/ruby eyes and seeing them change their opinions. I think the bright blood red eyes of albinos, PEW's etc really puts a lot of people off creatures with teeth!!!

[Coco1]

Maybe they think its a "devil" streak or something! lol.

Candace, I love their colours. I've never been into Gerbils, totally clueless about them. I love the Siamese - but then I've always had Siamese cats!!!

They're both cute! Good luck with the breeding, I'd love to know what kind of litter colours you get :)

[hammydude]

Congrats on getting Sam. :D

Do you know how long they go between litters until breeding again?

[SnuggleHam]

Well it said that gerbils are family planners, if the female doesn't want to mate for some reason she wont. But with gerbils mating occurs about 24 hours after she gives birth...



So if your not careful you can end up with a ton of gerbils. I'll have to breed her twice before I seperate them, that way I can eventually seperate them with a pup of the same sex. Gerbils are social and do better in same sex pairs.

[hammydude]

Woah Candace, 24 hours after giving birth. :shock: I thought that rabbits were bad.

[SnuggleHam]

I know he he.... 8)

[babyboos]

Dwarf hamsters are very similiar, breeding again this quickly after whelping. Syrians however wont breed until they have weaned their litter - not that I have ever tested it.

[SnuggleHam]

Orlando and Sam are now expecting!! There has been a lot of peeping coming from Sam and a lot of thumping coming from Orlando.



The gestation period for a gerbil is 24-28 days.. so I am expecting the first litter around April the 15th to the 20th



Around the end of May I expect the pups to be ready to be re-homed, its all so very exciting!!

[hammydude]

Yeah Sam and Orlando! :P What will you be doing with the pups? Taking them to a pet store or doing it all yourself?(the selling and rehoming?)

[carefresh]

They're beautiful ! They both are such nice colors !

[SnuggleHam]

There are a couple local pet stores near me that might take them. I know one of the places does have gerbils as I have seen them there. There is another place I bought my Roborovskis from and I talked to the owner once about the possibility of him taking gerbil pups but he seems to think they aren’t as popular as hamsters...



But the problem I think is that he keeps some of his birds and rodents in a back room where you can only see in from a glass door. He keeps his hamsters out in the main pet shop area in a large octagonal tank.. But hamsters sleep all day long!!



I think if I convinced him that if he set up the gerbils in the main area, when children or adults come in the first thing they would see are gerbils fully awake and aware and playing, running around and chewing cardboard.. And second of all these gerbils aren’t just any ordinary color!



Besides that I'll just do what it takes to find them homes, there are a few ways that I can. If not I have other cages and I am prepared to separate the males and females into same sex cages until I do find them homes.