In my (admittedly) limited experience, I've had success in splitting up a
relatively long time pair. It seems the key has been to locate prospective
partners that the individual gerbils can bond with. I had an adult breeding
pair (they were supposed to be a breeding pair, but after several months
they hadn't produced a litter) and for this, and a couple other reasons
decided to split them up. It took 3 separate tries (and gerbils) to find a
pet partner for the female! She rejected at least 2 (and maybe 3--I can't
remember now) other females before finally accepting the last one. She
would just immediately attack any female put in the cage with her. The one
she finally accepted, she just basically ignored for about 48 hours, then
she started grooming her, and shortly they were sleeping together. I decided
that because she didn't immediately attack this last one, there was some
hope that they would bond, so I left them together, after watching closely
for a few hours to make sure there was no delayed reaction. It's become a
very successful pet pairing.
The male had no trouble accepting the new female that he was paired with,
nor she him, and they began breeding almost immediately. So I guess there
was something basically not right with the original breeding pair.
Now both male and female are very happy with their new partners. The
breeding pair has had a successful litter, are great parents, and are
pregnant again. The pet pair are very cute together, have obviously bonded
and are well matched.
I realize this contradicts commonly held ideas on this subject. Perhaps my
personal experience has been an anomaly. However it DID work, and I
therefore wanted to pass it on.
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