Melisa Lamphere <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
> HI,
> I just joined the list, and after reading today, I am very glad
> that I did.
> I have so many questions, and it looks like I have found the place
> to get the answers.
> My female had a litter of 7 on March 8, we are not wanting to part
> with any of them.
> My question, how many gerbils can live happily together? The father
> died before the pups were born, and we don't want her to be alone
> any more. Will she allow one of the female pups to stay with her?
Probably.
> How many females can stay with her?
One is best as large groups of females are unpredictable.
> How many males can live in one cage happily, and does it need to be
> an even number?
Virtually any number of males will get on OK.
There are no magic numbers but whilst males will normally get on OK if
introduced as youngsters females can be much harder to keep together.
Have a look at:
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/intro.htm
This is mainly about introducing adult gerbils but it has some relevant
info.
>We aren't sure how many of each sex we have yet,
> but we are wanting to be prepared when the time comes to seperate
> them.
Have a look at:
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/gender.htm
for when the time comes.
> Also, the pups are starting to chew and sniff the solid food in the
> cage. Do I need to put softer food in the cage? Or will the gerbil
> food be enough?
Normal gerbil food is OK but both the pups and the mother will
appreciate some canary or budgie seed.
> We are feeding the mother the gerbil food from the store, as well
> as sunflower seeds, and oatmeal.
Sunflower seeds are very high in fat and gerbils will eat them in
preference to more nutritious foods. Give them now and a gain as a treat
but they should form more than a small part of the main diet. If there
are any sunflower seeds in the food from the petshop don't add any more.
--
Julian
************************************************************************
* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
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