> and responsible breeding is
> more important than
> her stress level.
While this statement most definitely has it's
respectable merit, wouldn't many people agree that
part of "responsible breeding" includes looking out
for the best interests of the animals involved? To
kind of state myself in another manner here, if you
don't feel that you want/can handle the number of
litters a gerbil pair is going to produce throughout
their reproductive lifetime, perhaps you should
reconsider breeding them in the first place.
Separating a bonded pair can lead to unhappy,
lethargic gerbils on both ends... Sure, you can
always try using a split-cage method to introduce
same-sex friends later on after the litter is out of
the way, but regardless...
There is a fine line between responsible breeding in
regard to numbers, and responsible breeding in regard
to the well-being of the actual reproducing animals.
I'm of course not saying that separation of the male &
female in order to put a cap on litters is always
necessarily horrible, but seeing as how these points
can actually be applied to nearly any breeding
situation, I just thought I might point out another
perspective :-)
Summer Brons
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Oregon
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