Breeding older female gerbils?

Question

My daughter is very keen to breed her 2 female gerbils. I am considering allowing her to do this once, but I have lots of questions first.

- Her gerbils are about 18 months old. Is this too old?

- Is it likely that the male and females will fight if a male is introduced?

- If one or both females successfully breeds, is there a risk that one female will kill the young of the other?

- I would plan to adopt out the male gerbils and keep the females. Has anyone any tips on finding new owners?

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

you gerbils are way too old, the best time to breed gerbils is ,female: 5 months to 1year and 3-4 months and males from 10 weeks onwards. if you do breed DO NOT remove male and DO NOT put the expectant mother back in with another female. also if you dont want to be overrun with gerbils, keep the pair together even in the week of birth, gerbils will mate on the night of birth and can concieve but dont worry the female does actually hold off the birth for about 10 extra days can be more , the gestation period for a gerbil is 24-28 days but if she is still weaning the pups 34-43 days. if you put the expectant mother with another female, the other female can , or will try to kill the pups, or the mother can kill that female to protect her pups.
when you decide to seperate the breeding pair you should put "a" or a "couple" of her previous litter daughters in with her and put the dad with his sons (the ones you keep). do not put the mothers litter-mate back in with her!!
never leave an inexperienced female alone to raise her pups. she can go loopy, and : kill her pups; leave her pups and dig leaving them to fend for themselves which may cause their death; get lonely and stressed which may cause her to canibalize her pups; the pups may grow up to be violent to one another and it could just be stressful and all too much for her , although older females more experienced females may do just fine on their own but its best to keep the mother with a daughter or her partner.
you will not earn any money and will not even come out even , so dont breed just for money because you will end up losing it (only slightly) not creating it, you should do it out of love for the gerbils, and as a hobby.
think about what you will do with the pups you must have 3 cages 1 for baby males , baby females, and a suitible breeding TANK for the breeding pair. cages for breeding pairs can cause you to lose pups, parents dig in the middle of the nest making the babies go flying and if you are unfortunate the parents may kick the babies through the bars, usually they could be fine but its best to be safe than sorry.
dont just put any male and female together and hope for the best, there is ALOT of things to consider before you breed, such as : are the pair going to be in anyway related (if they are the pups will be deformed); are you prepared to hand raise the pups if so you will need kitty replacment milk, and spare time to raise it/them. you will need to be prepared for heart-ache , as babies in really big litters (7-10), babies in small litters (1-2) and really babies in any litters may die. also you may be very curious to se them but dont peer on the female and her babies all the time and dont show many neww people as we ARE giants to them and can be extremely frightening on the mother if massive giants are looking into her nest, also this can cause stress and may cause her to harm her pups to protect them(it may seem wierd "to protect them" but she may eat them so that she doesnt feel pain by you killing or harming her pups) check on the pups early in the morning; around the middle of the day and late at night, NO MORE THAN THAT!!!! i cannot stress enough that you try to be as less stress full to her , put her in a quiet place in the house or the other side of the room to any other animals in that room so she is used to the surroundings. if the mum is scratching in the corners from bordem put a toilet tube in there to knaw and put a towel over half the tank where the nest is and leave her for a few hours if this doesnt work then hold her and cuddle her but not for long as she needs to feed her pups again (this is why you leave the male or a daughter in, so that if mum goes loopy the nest is still warm, and has a better chance to live).
people think that the dad will kill the pups, its actually more likely that the female is to kill her pups!! the dad is extremely good with the babies and in the situations where he may hasrm them , the female will eat them so he cant, if this happens then take him out, as he had been left in throughout this time it is likely she is pregnant again, its now okay to leave her on her own, even though her pups were eaten , if you left the male in for this litter to be born it may happen again, as the female doesnt trust the male obviosley, she is more experienced and has had a taste of what it feels like to be a mother.

some people come up with alot of rubbish, as they dont know, they havent done their research, i am a breeder i know , i have been there and got the t-shirt, i know what i am talking about. leave the male in until at least the 2nd litter then replace him with one of her elder daughters. do not put a male in with 2 females, no not put an expectant mother with her littermate,, she may kill the pups, the mum is most likely to eat the pups than dad. 2 cages 1 tank, and no large objects in tank other than food bowl as pups have been crushed, lost and forgotten (by mum as she may play in them)by large objects keep tank simple, no second layers, and seperate pups from males and females and mum and dad at 6 1/2 weeks so they dont keep mating. breed females from 5-15 months no later (this is because older females may create 1 pup, in this she will not make enough milk, the baby could be still born, the baby could get stuck in the birth canal, therefore killing both mother and baby, and can cause serious vet bills to help save her.
finally no matter what anyone says (especially if they dont know for sure) never take their advice do what a breeder or you would do!!

a fantastic website that helped me at the beginning is (the best website out of all of them) www.gerbilbreeding.com , if you have more questions the owner of that website can help you out!!