>I am trying to learn as much as I can before I attempt to pick em out and
>brink em home.
Good. That way you don't have any unexpected suprises. :)
>
>I assume keeping male and female together would mean babies. I guess that
>talk I had 30 years ago sunk in. So if I am not planning on breeding is
>there any difference between a pair of males vs pair of females (temerpent,
>activity, playfulness, cleaner, etc). I assume the mails are bigger slobs,
>stay out late, drink too much, and fall asleep in front of the TV.
I don't think that there is any big difference between a pair of females or
a pair of males. I'm partial to the males. For whatever random reason, I
have had better luck with taming males than females.
>
>If I have just 2 males...do they get sexual urges. If I have males and
>females but separated, do the males go crazy when the female is in heat (i
>assume they go into heat).
If you look on the belly of a male gerbil, there is a small bald spot that
is the scent gland. Male gerbils especially rub this on anything to mark
objects with their scent. Sometimes, males will mark the backs of their
cagemate. This looks a lot like mating, but it is not.
>
>I've read some and have made a lot of assumptions.
>
>One more - If I set up different "rooms" connected by tubes, do they
>generally go to the bathroom in a separate room, sleep in another, etc?
I would be leary of "rooms". Some people have reported gerbils that have
set up their own individual territories in each room, resulting in fighting
between territories. But some people have had luck. As far as using
separate rooms for different activities, gerbils do their own thing.
Generally they prefer to potty on flat surfaces, i.e. inside the tubes.
They may set up several sleeping areas and move around a bit. They eat
wherever you put food.
>Thanks for sharing all your gerbil wisdom
>
>I lied - a 2nd one more - anything i should be looking for when picking
>them
>out?
General health. Bright eyes and clean looking coat. Avoid listless
gerbils, gerbils with greasy coats or bloody noses or signs of fighting or
discharges from the eyes or poop stuck to the back side. If you don't want
an already pregnant female, try to avoid getting females that have been
housed with males (especially older males).
Good Luck and have fun!
Deb A.
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