What an EXCELLENT question/comment Donna! Well, at least I thought
so..hehe. :)
>Someone recently on the AGS (American Gerbil Society) mailing list made
>the comment that at his height of gerbil breeding he had 40 gerbils and
>it was so time/engery consuming that it was no longer fun.
I have had 40 + gerbils (Uhh...I think the exact # I have now is 30 plus two
hamsters :). I currently have 8 tanks (5 breeding pairs, 2 tanks with a
male and female who are to be intro'd as soon as her twins are in new homes,
and one pet pair...oh yeah, and Magan and Magic, my hammies) I clean their
cages every week, and it takes about three hours. I spend time with each
gerbil while I clean the tank, and that is when new babies get sexed and
named (if they are old enough) The height of my gerbil breeding was two
summers ago, when I had close to 20 tanks in my bedroom, and all were
breeding pairs. I literally had gerbils coming out of my ears..I'd get a
pair here, and pair there, and then rescue some gerbils from a pet store,
and heck, why not pair those guys up to, cause lil gerbil babies are sooooo
cute...ha. And still, I didn't mind cleaning all their tanks every weekend
(I had to, the smell would get sooo horrible) and the 30 bucks every two
weeks I was shelling out for the 25 lbs. bag of gerbil food (Which I still
get, only now it lasts for a month and a half to two months). At that
point, I was anti-pet store. Soooo, I kept them ALL. Now, two summers ago,
I was just beginning to learn how to breed, learning the colors, and I was
pretty much a newbie. (Wow...two summers ago...DUDE! LOL Where HAS the time
gone??) Finally I ended up taking some to pet stores, and what I couldn't
take to the pet store, my mum took to the Humane Association. I had to weed
through and pick my "favorites", and that was sooo hard. My mum basically
backed me into a wall as far as my gerbils went, and I really did cry over
loosing them. Since then, I've learned to be more responsible. I breed
only what I can home, and now that I am working with a petstore, breeding
gerbils for them, it's much eaiser. I have enough gerbils to do private
sales, and so that they pay for at least their food, if not their bedding.
And occasionally a Taco at Taco John's for lunch. :) (heehee..no one ever
said gerbil breeding made ANYONE money!) Like I said before, I've got five
breeding pairs, a breeding pair to be (Waves Hi to TJS...Danny will get with
Anya eventually! LOL, Kirby and Kalika (her twins) are going to new homes
next week...into the split tank they go!) and one pet pair. My room doesn't
smell, and everyone gets toys/wheels/treats because I have enough money to
take care of them all. So, anyways, as I babble, the point is, I think it
depends on the person. *I* never had more gerbils than I could handle...I
actually like how gerbils smell (tho not the wet aspen smell..that I don't
like LOL) and I don't mind taking chunks out of my weekend to care for them.
I think it depends on the person...and the person's parents, should they
be a minor (which I am) and how much time they are willing to devote to
gerbils. Some people can handle two gerbils, others prefer to have
200...whatever they can take care of without putting the animals at risk. :)
~Tasha~
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