Sarah Conte <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>Though there's been no fighting between the two of them, I'm worried that
>she's feeling lonely without her group of girls. Any advice?
If you mix together groups of gerbils then you can expect all sorts of
problems as they sort out dominance et, even after you then separate
them again. All you can do is hope they sort it out without fighting.
> What are the
>specific drawbacks to colony breeding?
There are many. Firstly, it is important o understand how gerbils live
in the wild. In a gerbil colony males and females compete for the right
to breed. Normally only the dominant male and female breed. Males tend
to not be too aggressive with one another, but females will drive one
another away,. or even kill one another in struggles for dominance. In a
captive colony it is impossible for gerbils to escape and produce their
own colony. Instead they are likely to be killed.
Also, if there are two adult females in a colony, as this is unnatural,
all sorts of things can go wrong. It is quite common for female gerbils
to steal another gerbil' pups. Even if they are not nursing. They will
even deliberately kill another gerbil's pups. Obviously these things do
not always happen, but our experience is that the longer you leave two
breeding females together, the greater the chance that things will go
wrong.
> When I was a kid, the gerbils all
>raised the pups with no problem and no fighting, was I just lucky?
Probably.
BTW, for more info on how gerbils live in the wild look at:
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/wild.htm
--
Julian
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
National Gerbil Society
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
