Michael & Sharon Fazi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>Hello. It has been awhile since I signed off. I changed ISP and have
>been having some difficulties as this ISP is new to this area.
>What happened to the littlest gerbils? Why are they so little? I have seen
>two such gerbils. I have not had any in my breeding and am curious as to
>what contributed to them being so little. Are they just runts from lack of
>nutrition or are they dwarfs? Are they fertile or sterile or just not
>breedable because of their small size. I have heard of dwarf hamsters,
>but not dwarf gerbils.
>Also, I had an individual ask me if I bred long haired gerbils or rex coated
>gerbils. I said I had never heard of such in gerbils. What kind of
>mutations or anomolies happen in gerbils? Has anyone had such things
>in their breedings?
>Sharon
>
There are no established mutations of shape, size or coat (other than
colour). The only exception is that naked gerbil were discovered and
reported by Birmingham University in the UK. This mutation I almost
certainly extinct.
In our experience, runts always catch up. They will be normal sized
eventually, usually catching up by four months or so, although it can
take longer.
We have had some gerbils that have remained smaller than most, but these
have tended to be normal gerbil that for one reason or another have
ended up as lone females when still quite young.
We have seen some gerbils that have remained small that were bought from
petshops that were part of large chains and buy in gerbils from bulk
breeders. These gerbils were never healthy and probably had a variety of
problems resulting from a poor genetic background.
--
Julian
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
National Gerbil Society
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
