Gerbils

A question about : Gerbils

I bought my DD some Gerbils a few months ago, a woman had bought 2 females from P@H supposedly, well one was male.

So they are called chocolate & Cookie, but I am so paranoid she had sexed them wrong for me

I've caught them humping, now I know this can be a dominance thing but one is definatley fatter than the other and now I am freaking out. I can't really hold Chocolate she's a wriggly little sod, and she's always running on the wheel so maybe that' why cookie looks much fatter.

We've had them since September so am I worrying over nothing - they would of had babies by now?!

I really can't cope with the idea of having to make ANOTHER cage and introduce NEW gerbils so they aren't lonely, and also getting rid of the sprogs.

Are there specific signs I should be looking out for? I've tried to look at their bits when they come over to say hello but truly haven't a clue

I can't see where they even sleep as they have their networks and tunnels, and the tank is quite large! It takes 3 bags of sawdust and loads of hay!

Best answers:

• According to google, there are 3 or 4 ways of checking whether they are male or female. There are pictures on some of the gerbil websites to help you decide. A gerbil pregnancy is quite short, apparently 19 days, so providing the gerbils have been mature enough since you got them in September, I'm sure you would have had babies by now if they had got it wrong!
• From what I remember the males were pretty obviously males much like rats/hamsters are so i'm sure you'r e ok
• Oh good none seem to have particular bulge near their rear end!
  They are lovely pets though, fun to watch them making tunnels - shame they destroy ALL the things you put in their cage though - Good recyclers, all my cardboard and cat food boxes go in there.
• Which one cleans the cage . . . that's a female.
  Which one sleeps whilst t'other one cleans the cage . . . that's a male.
  Which one makes high frequency whinging noises (usually when cage is dirty) . . . that's a female.
  Which one . . . & this should be familiar with any true rodent owner . . . stinks like P1$$ more than the other . . . that's a female !
  YES it's true. The bestest & by far the easiest way to sex a gerbil is by the stinking of the P1$$. The females win that one by a very long mile . . . But . . . MSE's femenists will be along shortly to SHOUT me down & deny that male P1$$ & female P1$$ is any different.
• Oh I have heard them squeaking but I'm not sure which one does it! The fat one is the one sleeping whilst the other is running 8 marathons on the wheel, I can't say Ive sniffed their bits I occassionaly catch an aroma of wee from their cage but not a specific one.
• We've had a couple of pairs of male gerbils - the first pair seemed very highly sexed and kept humping each other. One was fatter and lazier than the other, like you describe. With our second pair, I never saw them humping. They are sweet pets but I agree, anything that goes in the cage is very quickly recycled into little bits!
• We've changed the cage slightly - and attached the wheel to the bars as the stand was driving me bananas!
  It's really wide aswell so I'm hoping its an adequate size for them, We made the cage ourselves and Ive got cable ties connecting the cage topper to the plastic tank thing my other half made just incase any of the cats knock it over - They like to try and bat the cage and occasionally sit on the top, they run away if the gerbils try and sniff their feet though
  Yeah toys do not last long at all, they get all the toilet roll tubes, cat food boxes, capri sun boxes - demolished within a day, I bought them a wooden seesaw, they had it munched within a week....
  Anyone know of treats they would like? I occasionally give them a bit of a digestive biscuit, and have a dried corn on the cob in their at the min. They also love a redskin peanut!
• I used to give mine tiny bits of veg, they particularly liked carrot and courgette.
• I've got some carrots in so I'll try them with a bit each tonight