Hi Elizabeth,
I read your new updated breeding page and enjoyed it very much - it's full of
practical information and great illustrations. There was one area though that
did concern me (in the Cannibalism Continued page). It says,
"It is true that some Gerbil carers feed their Gerbils on insects or meat, like
pieces of ham or lamb etc., because in the wild Gerbils would normally eat such
things as part of their diet. But adopting such a policy is not without its
risks. It should be remembered that feeding your Gerbils on meat of any kind,
could develop a taste for flesh and we would recommend that all food be without
meat of any kind."
The reason I am concerned is that I have a Leopard Gecko and when feeding her
crickets, toss one to my (breeding) female gerbil as a good source of protein
(and I have heard lack of protein as a cause of cannibalism). She is crazy
about crickets (although my other gerbils want nothing to do with them). I was
wondering if your statement that eating crickets/meat increase a gerbils taste
for baby gerbil flesh was supported by any sort of study (perhaps Julian would
know). If not, I don't see that it would necessarily follow that eating one
type of flesh would increase cannibalism. You don't see this in other meat
eating species -- for example, a cat which is a avid mouse hunter/eater doesn't
bring this association over to her kittens.
Please provide any more information that you have available (and I'll lay off
feeding any crickets for now!)
Thanks, Donna
breathe wrote:
> Hi Everyone!!
>
> Just a quick line to let everyone know that we have just finished publishing
> our "Gerbil Breeding" section onto the web. This update includes a major
> facelift, including the all-new "GERBILS" banner and newly improved
> image quality.
>
> Ta ta for now,
>
> Elizabeth Hinsley,
> www.gerbils.org
