thanks Deb. that makes a lot of sense to me as Blanche is [light] ivory cream (gg,pp [ch?]) Bob is burmese (aa,cbcb,Gg) and Shy is a colourpoint slate (aa,cbcb,gg) the gerbils I originally kept where golden agouti, with no recessives (apart from the odd ch carrier) and I seem to remember the DTWs (chch) I kept had fewer (and smaller) pups. thanks again Colin ----- Original Message ----- From: "Deb Rebel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "cj.morris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2001 4:28 PM Subject: Re: just a thought! > >when I first kept gerbils in my youth I remember that my gerbils always > >seemed to have 8 pups in their first litter and 6 pups in successive > >litters... > > > >is the fertility of gerbils falling or are their other reasons for this, as > >nearly all the 'pup announcements' seem to show average litters to be > >smaller > >these days (and blanche only had two in her first litter) > > > I've had nine and ten in litters. I think it's due to your line of > gerbils. I have some that have consistently 2-4 pups a time. > Others are much more prolific..and I don't see a correlation > between color unless you're hooking 3 recessives together > at once....in the latter, smaller litters.... > > Deb R. >
