colony

[Dennis Blomjous]

Hello to all,   I have been breeding gerbils since July last year. I started with a couple and they have raised three litters, currently I believe the female is pregnant again. I removed 2 males from the 1st litter, but all the others are still with their parents, so one could say I have a real colony(13 animals in total, 3 males, 5 females, 5 unknown(4 weeks old). They have a big aquarium to live in (length 1 meter) but how long will the peace last and will the youngsters start to breed with eachother?? Are there other people who have experiences with it? I feel this is the natural way for gerbils to live but I also know that their space is limited so I need to know how big the colony can grow and the age I should be removing the females. (I just read something about 6 months, is that so?) Should I remove the males? (I just read males don't have problems staying together and that they are monogamous). (I suppose I did wrong by taking out the 2 males from the 1st litter, but I was afraid they would fight with the breedingmale once they get mature, I just found out it's the females who cause fightingproblems). One could say I'm taking quite a risk but believe me I pay attention and would never do anything to harm them! (and since I am paying attention I can see if things are going well so they won't harm eachother).