Hi Kelly,
Welcome to the list.
> Can you house two females with one male?
No! gerbils are matriarchical. From repeated
accounts on this GML, once they hit maturity the
females will fight to the death over the male. If pups
are born before that, the fenmales are likely to steal
and/or injure one anothers' pups.
> How do you house your gerbils and in what
> groupings?
Here's a typical tank setup I use to house my gerbils:
http://www.geocities.com/abcgerbils/setup.html
You can house as many males together as you like, as
long as you create the clan from a family (father &
sons or brothers) or clan them as pups.
For breeding a male-female pair is best. A
female-male-male trio might be fine. I know that is
how Erin on the list is breeding her gerbils. I
haven't tried this yet.
I keep my females in pairs or trios. I've done fine
with female trios, though others report that they are
not so stable as males in groups of larger than two.
I wouldn't try more than three female together. I
also am breeding a very gerbil-gentle line.
As far as setting up your pair...
Spotting anywhere other than the throat and paws
indicates the Sp gene which produces spotted gerbils.
I would pair up gerbils from a breeder with good
recessives (otherwise you might get all agouti and
black pups). I find spotted gerbils to be very
popular, agouti, nutmeg, and black solid to be least
popular.
Check out the gerbil color pallette/genetics and the
gene predictor to figure out what colors you'd
produce.
Gerbil colors and pictures:
home.wtal.de/ehr/gerbils/colors.htmolors.htm
http://www.agsgerbils.org/Color_Strip/index.html
http://www.gurlpages.com/other/emandkel/colors.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9792/spectrum.html
http://users.bart.nl/~fredveen/colours1.htm
http://www.gerbil-info.nl.com/genetics1.htm
Gerbil gene predictor to figure out what color pups
your pair could produce:
http://www.netxp.com/rick/gerbils/frameset.html
then click on "gene predictor"
Breeding information:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9792/how2breed.html
http://www.rodent.demon.co.uk/gerbils/gerbfaq.htm
Good luck in your gerbil adventures.
Donna
ABC Gerbils
www.abcgerbils.com
--- Kelly Harris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi, all.
>
> I used to raise guinea pigs, but with the birth of
> my third human child, I decided the guinea pigs were
> consuming too much of my time. I recently purchased
> three adorable gerbil pups (from the pet store) and
> I have three more on hold from a breeder.(also
> babies) I have a total of three decent sized cages.
> The sexes and varieties are:
>
> argente male,
> black male,
> black and white male (pretty evenly colored, would
> he be considered spotted?)
> agouti female
> 2 - polar fox females.
>
> My question to you all is, as long as no fighting
> ensues, how do you recommend I pair them? I know
> one of the polar fox females will definitely be put
> in with the black male. My other question is: With
> guinea pigs, you usually housed one male with 2-3
> females and everyone was fine together, even when
> babies were born. I have heard/read contradictory
> stuff about gerbils. Can you house two females with
> one male? How do you house your gerbils and in what
> groupings?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help!
>
> Kelly Harris
>
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