In reply to Mary's message on the mother killing her pups...a rule of thumb in gerbils is any gerbil separated for more that 24 hours should be considered a stranger and cautiously reintroduced. Perhaps this goes for pups as well as adults. Also, if the pups smelled like the other gerbil clan, that could have been a factor, too. Again, I'd recommend glass tanks with clipped on wire tops to prevent further escapes of mother or other clanned gerbils. Also, in any introduction I find it is a good idea to keep the tank in my sight for the first day or two until everyone is nesting and well clanned. Very sorry about the pups, it must have been an awful thing to see. -- Donna ABC Gerbils http://www.geocities.com/abcgerbils/home.html GML Codes� :C for general care, feeding, housing, bedding, etc discussions. :B for breeding discussions that are less genetics intensive :G for long, genetics discussions of the long, "alphabet soup" type :M for meta discussion -- discussion on the group itself. :$ for selling gerbils, wanting to buy gerbils or related information. :I for this is completely irrelevant and "we're just babbling" discussions. :S for information on gatherings and shows. :Z for zoological and scientific postings that do not fit into any other category :E for this relates *only* to exotic species of gerbils
